jaunthie | Götterdämmerung

It has been an epic week. Some of it was expected. Other bits not so much.

Expected: MUCH opera. Humilitas and I had tickets to the Ring this week. Four operas, six nights, whoo-hoo! And at least according to the schedule, it should have been a relatively quiet week at the office. I even planned on taking Monday and Tuesday off, to better let myself enjoy the first two operas, relax, and get a bit caught up with myself.

So was the plan. And I mostly stuck with the plan, at least until Wednesday noonish, when a major firedrill broke out at work. So much for a relatively calm week at work that would allow me to enjoy the Ring in peace, but okay, so it goes. I can handle a work crisis (or three) and still make it to the rest of the operas. I might be short on sleep by the end of it, but it's doable. I even said so out loud.

So the plan went on. And family visits happened in the middle of all this too. And much opera was seen and enjoyed. And much work was done in a huge hurry. And I made it to Saturday
with my sanity (mostly) intact. I really should have worked that day regardless of it being the weekend, but it was Saturday, and I had family in town to enjoy, and lovely weather, and I'd been working my butt off for the last several days, and besides which, there was Götterdämmerung to enjoy, and that was going to be a huge chunk of time right there. I could work on Sunday.

So I went to Götterdämmerung and didn't get home until after midnight, exhausted but completely giddy with lovely music. I collapsed into bed with plans to get up, go exercise, and get on with the day.

And then came the 5 a.m. phone call informing me that my grandmother had fallen, was on her way to the emergency room, and my mother couldn't be reached by phone so it's up to me to take action.

*blinkblinkblink*

My brain certainly wasn't awake, but apparently I am capable of thought and action without genuine consciousness.

So I got myself moving somehow, and made my way over to my parents' house to make sure *they* were all right (they were; somehow the call they'd gotten had been from a fax machine), collected my mother, and got both of us over to the emergency room. Fortunately Grandma was all right; no broken bones, no sign of concussion, nothing too alarming in the tests. It was six hours of running around and waiting and worrying, but thankfully she is okay and back at home.

I made it back to my house around noon, extremely tired and once again rather zombielike in terms of my IQ.

fisherbear welcomed me back, offered to try and revive me with food and/or coffee as needed, and mentioned that there had been a call while I was out. His Aunt F had apparently not been feeling well the last few weeks. He'd just found out that she was scheduled for exploratory surgery that day. Worrysome, even in my brain-befuddled state, but from what he said (or what I could comprehend) apparently a routine enough procedure that no one was concerned about it per se, just about what the surgery and tests might find. I collapsed in front of my computer to try and muster up enough energy to work, or at least achieve consciousness. I can't say I accomplished much, but I was starting to feel almost sentient after about an hour at home. Maybe I could in fact muster up the energy and wit to get some of the work done that really needed to be done.

And then fisherbear got another phone call, this time from Aunt L. Aunt F had died at the hospital, and MamaBear - their sister - wasn't answering her phone so it was up to him to take action and break the news.

Déjà vu of my early morning call all over again, except of course much, much worse. There would be no positive outcome this time.

Needless to say, all thoughts of work were set aside. We spent the rest of the day with MamaBear, trying to distract ourselves with taking care of what practical details we could (not many given that no plans have been set yet, but there are always a few things), grieving, and just trying to be there.

As a work of fiction, I wouldn't believe today's events and random coincidences if written on the page or performed on the stage. But as the saying goes, there are stranger things than fiction. And sometimes reality sucks.

No, really. Keep the drama on the stage, please. I prefer it there.