Like a white sheet of paper
pressed upon shaving cream doused 
in food dye, by a child,
marbled skies impress.

Managed* in the past tense implies that one was able to get through something.
I have never managed.
He asked for my hand in marriage after my years of begging for it and I said no.
He offered to console me five years later when I broke down seeing his children on the playground.
He stood by me when those two pink lines revealed the man who left me a week before, who I thought I loved, left something behind. ...

Dear Albert,

Where have the years gone? I don't want to sound like some crabby old lady, but really, that is exactly what I am. I miss the days we wrote letters back and forth. When I was in college and you were at war, I missed you almost as much as I do now. At least then I had our letters to console me. Our children have grown up now and even their children are beginning to be beyond...

Any time now, she thought. Buzzing with excitement, five-year-old Alice waited by the door. Carrying around her small dog, Jax, Alice anticipated something magical, at least she was hoping. During her yearly doctor's appointment, her mother had told her that if she was a good girl she would get a surprise. Even before 6am Alice was up sitting by the door. Fairies, she thought, it must be a box of fairies. Gaining excitement by the minute her mind began to explore...