The Unexpected

Hello again! It’s been silent here but I have a fabulous, unexpected story.

After two rather uneventful albeit good “regular life” days last week, I woke up at 2:00am Wednesday morning to intense abdominal pain. By 4:00am I was in the ER and at 8:00am, I was wheeled into the OR for laparoscopic appendectomy. Yes. MJ and I are still wrapping our heads around it. I’d never had surgery before last week, let alone visit an ER, but I checked both off my life list in less that 4 hours. When I went to bed on Tuesday evening, I had food out to defrost for the next day’s dinner and I was envisioning the post I planned to put together for the dress-up ear headbands I made for our children. But sometimes, life takes an unexpected turn.

I tend to keep personal things personal, especially here. Not only is it a desire for privacy and a tactic for self-preservation but this is a creative space to me, for me, and I want to keep it that way. There are others who juggle the personal and non-personal very well, it’s just not a goal of mine. However, today, I’m going to pull down the curtain a bit.

I’ve mentioned in other posts about my struggles with feeling uninspired this year. In a self-employed, creative job, it’s been disconcerting. On top of that, just for fun, MJ and I have a few large personal, real life ‘balls’ in the air I’m not ready to elaborate on. We are in one of those places where it seems like everything is in flux, many things are unsure and nothing is resolving. It’s a bit uncomfortable. Throw a medical emergency on top of it and you are guaranteed a few dark moments where you are sure life is crumbling down around you.

MJ rescheduled all his work commitments so he could ferry our children to and from school, be with me and take over full management of our life. Kind friends offered help and food and my mom came and took care of me and our home while I rested. Even as an adult, I sure like having my mom around when I’m sick or, you know, recovering from surgery. I am blessed. Exceedingly blessed.

For my first emergency room visit and first surgery, last week’s shenanigans were lovely. I am not sure when life will level out for us or if this is just our new normal. At this point, I will settle for a few less bumps, hairpin turns and steep cliffs. But we can’t choose. The only option we have is to decide how to react. For me, last week proved that while I really don’t care for surprises, especially ones in the middle of the night, I, we, can make it through. We are capable of managing the unexpected. And, awesomely and amazingly, we have a community of people who care about us, at the ready to throw their arms around us and offer their help.

Thank you all for your kind messages and prayers. I felt them. :)