Stranger in my Own Strange Land

During the past week, a very close loved one was hospitalized with a nasty illness. The crisis seems past now, and for that I am supremely grateful. These scary moments do serve the purpose of placing things in the proper perspective. We realize all that we take for granted, and how quickly it might disappear.

There were two main ways to get to the hospital, which was located a good distance away, and was a place I’d fortunately never visited before. Both involved main roadways that were at the ...