My husband had been writing my blood pressure in his calendar

Dear Delyara, My husband died seven months ago. He used to irritate me by asking about my blood pressure because I have hypertension and am terrible at remembering tablets. I thought he was simply nagging. Today, I opened his old desk calendar looking for an insurance number and found tiny notes beside random dates: Elena 138/82. Good. Elena forgot pill. Doctor Friday. Remind her. There are months of them. On one page, he had drawn an angry face beside 161/96. I laughed, then cried so quickly I frightened myself. We had been married forty-one years. Near the end, I sometimes accused him of not listening to me because he spent so much time watching football or reading the newspaper. Apparently, while appearing not to listen, he was quietly keeping a medical record of my stubbornness. Since he died, nobody asks whether I took my tablet. I have missed it several times. Tonight, I set a daily alarm on my phone and named it Carlos is nagging you. It went off at eight. I actually answered aloud, “Yes, yes, I’m taking it.” The apartment was empty, but saying it made me smile. Marriage leaves strange jobs behind when one person dies. I did not know reminding me to stay alive had been one of his.