The Right Tools

His tools hung from a peg board 
outlines drawn with permanent marker 
a pristine environment designed for building, 
ready for use at any time
but his spark of creativity expired
his desire to build was lost and his tools

untouched hung suspended on the garage wall. 

His children had grown, moved from the home 
he and his wife exploring a new life, child free  
except for the occasional visits from grand kids 
everything was developing as it should  
until he got the dreaded call, his eldest,

only twenty-three, killed on the highway
by a drunken sailor, texting while driving,  
changing the focus of his life forever.