A day out of sorts

I didn’t get squat done today. Gray and a bit depressing, it has been a day of bad news and interruptions, one of those days when the ordinary pattern of life falls apart. I was up earlier than usual because of a minor doctor’s appointment at 9:15, but barely past eight Christian and Jordan converged on the cottage to tell me the son of one of her childhood friends is in the hospital with a brain tumor. Jordan had already been to the hospital and back and was on stand-by for the rest of the day and presumably the rest of the week.

Cancer right now seems all around us. The mother of one of Jordan’s friends—a friend since elementary school and a mother I knew and liked—is hospitalized with what looks like a severe form, and the brother of a friend has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. It cannot but help shake your faith.

We went to my appointment (blood work) and then by her office to get paperwork so she could work from home. By the time we got home, I was already behind myself and more than a bit discombobulated—and with several emails and phone calls to make before I could settle down.

Bless Jordan for insight that I lacked. While I have worried about Sophie for days and bothered the vet almost daily, after one in-person visit I accepted his remote advice that allergies were causing her coughing, snuffling, and huffing. The medicine he gave her and diet change helped her stomach. But last night, Jordan was not satisfied. She was worried enough to announce she would take her to the vet. Because the vet was booked today, she dropped Sophie off to be seen whenever. The good part about that is maybe she would exhibit that awful cough for them (she didn’t until the last half hour she was there). The bad part was that I missed her. She goes in and out twenty-eleven times a day, and when inside she sleeps in a chair and, too often, wheezes. I missed all that, and I missed being able to talk to her. Tonight the news is that she has an inflammation (I’m not sure of what) and her x-rays are going to a radiologist tomorrow. Meanwhile she is on antibiotics and a cough suppressant. I hope we’re making progress, because the poor baby has been miserable. And so have I in the middle of the night.

Trying to listen to the vet on the phone I realized that I couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t hear me. Jordan finally straightened it all out, and Jacob came out tonight to see what I had done to my phone. Truth was, it was my hearing aids, and I think it had to do with keeping them charged, a problem I’ve had for a while. The rechargeable batteries are apparently giving out (and they weren’t cheap) and the company no longer makes them. Damn! Back to changing batteries all the time. I may call the company and complain, for all the good that will do me. Typical of the day—one thing after another.

Then Jordan got word of the suicide of a young woman she didn’t know but who was good friends with some of Jord’s best pals. So we are worried, as always in those cases, about those left behind to grieve.

Christian had a difficult day at the office, and I appealed our tax appraisal, only to get it reduced by a measly thousand dollars. So I protested, but I have no idea what can of worms I opened. I am trusting Christian to see me through this. Seems like all day it was just one little thing after another.

A big thing that lurks in the background of this down day is the leak from SCOTUS—too appalling to think about, but I do have thoughts, and I’ll share them another night. Perhaps when I’m feeling more optimistic.

The bright note in the day, I think, is that I fixed a really good supper. Sheet pan chicken with vegetables. Trying to please everyone, I cooked carrots, potatoes, and sweet onion. With broccoli on the side for Jacob who, of course, ate while out with friends. But he did eat a bowl of broccoli when he came home. Jordan and Christian were enthusiastic about the dinner—Christian about the skin on the chicken (crispy and so good) and the potatoes, soaked in chicken drippings; Jordan appeared to like the whole thing, though she doesn’t eat potatoes. I hope she ate the carrots which I thought were wonderful. (See this Gourmet on a Hot Plate column for the way I cooked the dinner: Gourmet on a Hot Plate: Chicken thighs and sheet pan cooking

Sweet dreams, everyone. Sometimes life just comes at you in a hard rush, and the only way I know to get through it is to believe tomorrow will be better and to pray a lot for those who need our prayers. So that’s my thought for the night.