I’m Back … Again

I am SICK AND TIRED of writing about my life blowing up. At least this time, it was a false alarm of sorts.

The day before life was momentarily upended, I had a really good day. I saw an apartment that was completely affordable AND a block and a half from the beach and a block from my favorite bar in the place I’ve most wanted to live. I ended the night by FaceTiming with brother and his wife; she had a scheduled induction and I was going to have a new nephew any moment. Life was good — the calm before the storm.

Just a few hours later, my brother’s wife had their son with major, life-threatening complications. The hospital says she suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, which is extremely rare and unpreventable. She lost five liters of blood and Jamison, their son, was without oxygen for ten minutes. He needed CPR. When my little brother called me at work and told me, when he mentioned the baby would undergo brain function testing at the end of the week, it felt like everything inside me withered and collapsed. The prognosis was BAD; the EEG was very troubling.

Thankfully, I work with amazingly compassionate people. I was on the phone with my brother by the mailboxes near the main office, so everyone saw me unravel: the security guard, the principal’s secretary, the supervisor, the principal, the vice principals, even the superintendent. They ushered me into an office and let me explain. My principal gave me the rest of the year off and the next day, I left for Florida. I helped dog-sit and housesit while my parents left to be with my brother and his family in Kansas.

By some miracle — that’s really the only explanation — my brother’s wife and son recovered. They should both be dead. AFE (amniotic fluid embolism) has a mortality rate of over 60%. But my brother told me he heard his son cry and saw him move, so I knew it couldn’t be as bad as Maddie’s injury. His wife, Abby, was in dire straits for a couple of days. He called my mom in tears, telling her he “couldn’t lose them both.” But even Abby recovered and they’re all happy and at home. I plan on visiting next month and meeting my family’s second miracle.

How many miracles does a family get? Is there a limit?

I stayed in Florida an extra two weeks after my parents returned from Kansas. I got to spend time with everyone and see Maddie perform extraordinarily well during therapy. Despite the rough start, the summer is turning out to be really wonderful.

A former classmate reached out to me on Facebook to ask for a link to my author page on Amazon. He wants to suggest my titles to his fiancee’s book club.

And one of my closest friends, whose opinion I happen to highly value, is in the middle of Moody Blue and really enjoying it.

So I find myself at Barnes & Noble, trying to write and get back into the groove. I read some Anton Chekhov before I sat down. I’m about to finally be done with his book of short stories that I’ve been trying to read for two years. I’m hoping it will help me write some short stories of my own.

And I still haven’t managed to secure an agent. I’m giving it until my birthday, and then I’m going to look for small but reputable presses and just work on marketing.

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