You’ll notice that there aren’t any fancy pictures in this post. I’m composing it on my tablet via a thin, very thin!, WiFi signal. The quick version: my father had a stroke almost exactly a week ago and is now in hospice care at home with my mom. My brother and I are here with them until his body decides its time to let go.
That said, we were fortunate in one small aspect. My brother and I had both already set aside time to get their family home ready for sale since they’ve moved into a wonderful independent senior facility. Yes, until this happened, at 86 and 91, they were largely independent and proudly so. They’ve been married for 68 years and wherever one of them is, it’s home for both of them. (I wrote about how they met in this post about a family Thanksgiving.) Hospice is a great concept for care, too, because, in final days, home is so much better than a noisy hospital.
My father has had a good and long life. He loved the outdoors, worked in a lumber camp as a teen, spent four years in the Navy making sure the USS O’Brien’s secondary engines would work if needed (a supply ship that took fire every day for over three years), and moved on to a long career as a highway patrol officer. During that time he flew in search and rescue missions for years, using his extensive knowledge of the Northern California Sierras. He loved flying so much he got his private pilot’s license, then qualified for commercial status so he could fly the CHP speed control plane. That’s right, if you got a speeding ticket on I-5 coming into Sacramento in the 1980s-90s, it might have been him!
Down to business.
The only thing that makes sense for me in terms of my writing schedule is to set aside Covered Hearts (the fifth book of the Coin of Love Series). Though it’s more than half done, the deadline to publish it is mine and mine alone. The editor knows the project is underway but hadn’t yet set aside time that took away from other work, and there’s no pre-order underway. It’s easy business-wise to pick it up and move it to later this year. Maybe not so easy creative-wise because – for the first time in my career – I have a functional outline for the remainder of the story. I know I will be happy about that when I pick it up again, but writers will know how hard it is to lose momentum when writing is going well.
This change to my schedule will allow me to focus solely on the project that is in a pipeline that affects other people, and was already delayed because of my own (brief and resolved) health scare. That’s Frosting on the Cake 3: The Holidays. Just a month ago I assured Bella Books’ production staff that it was on schedule for its deadline. It still is, but only if I set aside everything else. Heck or high water, you’ll be seeing it this fall in time for fun holiday reading featuring 13 previous couples from earlier novels.
Exciting tangent – for the first time Sabrina Starling from Maybe Next Time is speaking to me. She’s held a grudge about how long it took her to find happiness and has only given me side-eye ever since. But now she has a story to tell about her life with Jorie, and Jorie’s daughter Penny.
I know that many of you will hold kind thoughts for my mom and dad right now and I thank you in advance for them. My mom – and our family, for that matter – is resilient. She’s a former school librarian, and a reader, and she will find ways to adapt to his absence, as we all will.
Life happens. Right now, a lot of life is happening in all of its stages. The sun still comes up and I discover every day the essential goodness of people who sincerely want to help. You won’t see much about them on the evening news, but kindness is rampant in the world!
