Synkroniciti is delighted to welcome back writer and poet Roger Funston of California, last featured in our Vulnerable issue. In Expectations, he offers “The Story I Wasn’t Going to Write,” a whimsical memoir essay about the everyday theater of caregiving.
“I take Erma (my mother-in-law) and Al (a family friend) grocery shopping once a week. She wants to go to Walmart because she has coupons for over-the-counter medical products. I would rather not go to Walmart, but the tipping point is having to go to two stores with Erma and Al in tow.”
What unfolds is comic, poignant, and desperately relatable. Erma cannot locate the products that match her coupons, while Al disappears down the aisles, gleefully stockpiling sugar, carbs, and sodium despite his diabetes. The scene is exasperating, yet Roger’s wry humor reframes it as a reminder: when those in our care return to childlike behaviors, patience and laughter become survival tools, for them and for us.
These moments of frustration are also moments of presence. In the fluorescent aisles of Walmart, Roger confirms that caregiving is far from glamorous, but it is deeply human. The absurdity of the task becomes a lesson in compassion, mortality, and the gift of shared time.
Read “The Story I Wasn’t Going to Write” in Synkroniciti’s Expectations issue, Vol. 8, No. 2, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Roger Funston came to poetry late in life after a long career as an environmental scientist. He met the love of his life (Diane Funston) at an open mic in Tehachapi, CA. Roger began to hone his writing skills at a weekly poetry gathering hosted by Diane. He participates in several reading and critique groups via Zoom. Roger writes about his life journey, his travels, his tribe and about things he has seen that you can’t make up. He often finds inspiration roaming the forest and deserts of the Western US.