Staying Alive

I've spent the last two days with the little one. The docs said she could go back to school today, but when you see tears in her eyes and her holding her little splinted arm -- Her mom's cold, caught at the hospital, is in full gear and I find myself taking care of both of them and the three dogs. Though I believe the three dogs think they are on some mind-blowing vacation. Such fun, yipping and snapping at each other, eating each others' food, and knocking over every open container in the house.

I am exhausted and my bed is calling, but I thought I'd spend one moment chatting with you.

Tomorrow - I plan on taking Ch. 26 and 27 to a new restaurant. I hope they're open for breakfast. I should take the synopsis, too, but after the 'corner' sermon, I realize it's best not to take on too much at one fell swoop.

I wish I could say I'm learning some great and wondrous lesson through this all, but I've been through it way too many times with my own children, that I can't quite grasp what it is I'm supposed to be learning now that I didn't learn in years before.

One thing is - we all have history. Many moments in our lives that impact the way we handle a particular event or emergency. Kind of like Pavlov's dogs. I find I am quite cool and calm on the surface, but my Irish ancestry draws forth images of death and mangled limbs and 'troubles.'

I fight the good fight and don't let the thoughts into my mind for more than a second or two. However, that second or two impacts what the next thought is going to be and whether I have the wit and sense to remember to bring my keys and my purse and get someone to care for the dog while we're in the emergency room.

Those bits of history that cause us to react are important for our characters, too. I know that, no matter how much time I spend on Kathleen's biography, I'm missing stuff. I suppose I could write ad infinitum about what makes Kathleen tick, but I have to draw a line somewhere or the other. I hope I've got the incidents down that cause her knee-jerk reactions. We'll see.

Life is staying alive.