I thought of this old song when I logged on here and saw how long it has been since my last post. The last few weeks have been terrifying, challenging, uplifting and joyful all at the same time.  On the morning of September 7th, Ron and I got up at 5 am so he could go into work to catch up on some projects. By 6:30 am, we were in the ER, learning that he had had a small stroke. The next few days were a whirlwind of tests, consultations, more tests, and finally, discharge orders. We were lucky that his speech and mobility were not impaired. He came out of it with balance problems and  impaired vision.

For the next few weeks, I drove him to doctor’s appointments and the drug store, to the hair salon for a haircut, to our neighborhood bistro for an early dinner. He was finally cleared to return to work, but not to drive, so I added morning and afternoon drive time to my daily schedule.  In the middle of all this, my brother called to tell me that Mom had gone to the ER with chest pains. She lives 300 miles from me, so there was little I could do.

At the same time, I had a book coming due to my editor. Thankfully I was a bit ahead of schedule with my final round of  revisions, and was able to turn it in on time.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been writing a series of magazine articles and blog posts in advance of the December release of CAROLINA GOLD and thinking about the next book I will begin writing in a few weeks.

It has been that kind of a year here. On the whole, I feel blessed and lucky, but surprised at how quickly this entire month has slipped away.

Happy October, friends. What’s left of it.