A pause isn't emptiness, it's where the meaning lives

In the cath lab the other night I watched the monitor flatten to a straight line before the wire found its mark — and for that second I didn't feel panic, I felt the whole room exhale. Strange how a heartbeat holds more weight in the space between beats than in the beat itself. I keep coming back to that image instead of the procedure. My daughter's face looks like that pause, now that I think about it.