Report from Pillville

Today started out to be a better than ordinary Thursday. My friend Ellen planned to drive up from L.A.. We texted back and forth, confirmed....and by the time she got here, I'd already rushed off to the doctor with my mom.

My mother woke feeling sick and slipped a little farther down the slope pretty quickly. Last night's half-drunk martini should have prompted a premonition, I guess. "Just call the ambulence," my mom said as she lay half asleep in her recliner instead of having her coffee. I talked her into a trip to the doctor instead-which turned into a trip to the hospital for a chest x-ray, too. No one seemed surprised that she was in her purple plaid pajamas--which might say something about the laid back fashioin world of So Cal--or perhaps it's proof of the invisibility of old women.

In any event, we've avoided the hospital for now. Which means a more normal up and around routine for her. Which I hope means no scary circulation issues and no weeks of physical therapy to get her strength back. But who knows? Here in Pillville, the winds can shift pretty quickly.