Where I’ve been the past few weeks:
= I spent the week in Athens, Ga., visiting Chris.
= On the way home from Athens, on a Sunday, I got the news that my grandmother was in the hospital.
= I spent the better part of the next week at the hospital. My aunt, Josie, stayed with Mia (my grandmother) for 7 nights, and then I stayed with her the 8th night. The two nights before I stayed with her I babysat my nieces, which was awesomely fun. Sadie had a cold, though …
= On the 9th day, a Monday, Mia got released to a short-term rehab center, and I went to stay with her there. We were there until she got released on a Saturday. I slept in a chair for 5 nights. It was 5 nights of hell. On Friday, I heard that my friend Virginia’s cancer had taken a turn for the worse, and that things did not look good.
= On Saturday, Mia went home, and I went home. I was there all of an hour when I heard that Virginia had passed away overnight.
= On Sunday, I felt the beginning symptoms of a cold. I ignored these symptoms and went running anyway. It was to be a 9-mile run, and after all I’d been through, I really needed that 9 miles. Kevin came out and ran with me, which was awesome – he and I haven’t run together in a while. On mile 2, I was watching traffic and didn’t see that there was a hole in the road where the shoulder should be. My foot slipped off the shoulder, bending my ankle 90 degrees. I thought surely I’d broken it, but a few steps later and it felt fine.
= That night, my “fine” ankle turned into “omg I can’t walk” and I ended up hopping everywhere for the next 24 hours. My coldish symptoms also turned into full-blown sick.
= I spent the better part of this week in bed, getting up only to go to a funeral, go to the doctor, and let the termite inspectors in. I was supposed to be at my grandmother’s all week but I couldn’t go and risk giving her my cold. It’s Thursday, and I’m still sick, and I do not want to be sick any more.
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= The silver lining: My friend Scott signed me up for a 5K on Saturday, and I desperately need to be well enough to run by then, for my body and my soul. Now that is a wonderful, wonderful friend. I have other wonderful friends too – those who offered to bring me dinners or lunches or drugs …
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Will elaborate later on my stint in rehab (I wasn’t the patient, but I might as well have been as close as I was to everything), on the loss of Virginia, someone who I worked with for 7 years and who I respected very much, and on the 5K.
But right now, I’m going back to bed.
