Write From the Soul 15 (and some Visualeyes too.)

Breathe...inhale...exhale. Breathe...inhale...NO! Don't hold your breath, remember to exhale. Breathing is cleansing.

I don't know about you but in my family, the women, when under stress, tend to only half breathe. We hold our breath for some reason. Sure, we know the breathing will help release the stress, but there's soooo much stress that it's almost as if our heads say "don't take another breath and you won't have to deal with new stressors."
Yeah, right.

'Cause if you're not breathing, you're not alive and if you're not living, you sure don't have more stress! (How wacked out is THAT!!!)

My mom has been in the hospital in Boston for almost a week. She fell, broke her kneecap in half, and needed surgery. Before that could be done, it was discovered she needed a pacemaker too. Because she takes a blood thinner from previous heart surgery, they couldn't operate until the blood was "thick" enough.  That took 3 days. As a result, she had a pacemaker implanted on Wednesday at 8 AM and knee repair surgery at 6 PM the same day. Now 2 surgeries in one day would be wearing for a 20 year old, difficult for a 40 year old. Try 80 year old!

There were many prayers ascending for her yesterday.

Top that off with my trying to get a flight from Atlanta to Boston with only a 4 day notice, without having to ransom anyone. Oh yeah, the East Coast was due for a big Nor'easter storm.

Still thinking it's not too stressful? Well add in that my sister and her family were scheduled to go out of town next week for school break, and still don't know if they'll make it. Sure, I came in for 2 weeks to "be on patrol" as my sister and i call watching over a parent in the hospital [don't always trust those docs and nurses since they have too many patients to attend to] but I can't drive any more! Can you say "buy a taxi for a week?"

Surgeries went well but mom is in mucho pain now with the knee. So in between morning and afternoon visits to the hospital, we are checking out rehab facilities because they want to move mom to one tomorrow or Saturday (which is manageable for me while family is out of town.)

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that there are other health issues going on in the family currently and it's kind of creepy staying in my mom's house/condo alone without her there. Doesn't make for restful sleep.

Did I mention I'm flying back to Atlanta for the SpringMingle Writers' conference the weekend of 2/26-28 and then turning around and flying back to Boston for 10 days?

Then I have to fly back to Atlanta on March 13th because the Foundation Fighting Blindness VisionWalk is on the 14th and I can't miss that.

Of course, I need time to get my taxes done and I'm due back in Boston for Passover at the end of March.

Now can you spell S-T-R-E-S-S???????

Breathe Gail.... inhale AND exhale. Again.