The Loops of Life

Doesn’t life just seem to throw you off some days? It does for me. I returned a few days ago from the Glorieta conference invigorated with all sorts of ideas and plans to write about the Writing Life.

Whenever I found a few extra minutes to call home (only briefly once a day with our intense schedule at this conference), my wife sounded terrible.  Christine was sleeping lots and believed she had the stomach flu. I felt bad but there was little I could do from a distance other than encourage her to get some rest and get better.

When I returned home, Christine had not improved so I pushed her to get into the doctor on Monday.  Running a temperature and still having flu-like symptoms, the doctor didn’t know exactly what was happening. He ordered a x-ray and CAT scan for tests. The results didn’t come back to him until late Monday and were read early Tuesday.  Yesterday morning we got a call to head to the hospital because the films showed her appendix had ruptured.  For most of the day, I waited with Christine in the pre-op room then spent a bit of time with her after surgery.  They removed her appendix and cleaned out the area of infection but she will be in the hospital several days.  I’m handling some chores here at home, then spending my day at the hospital—away from my computer—again.

The ideas I had for these writing life entries — some lessons that I picked up at the conference—will keep for another day. I’m off to care for my wife. Life has thrown another loop into my schedule for a day or so. It happens—and it happens to all of us.