Monday morning. God, I hate Monday's. No, that isn't right. I don't hate Monday...oh, it's morning I hate. I don't even hate mornings, if they could just come more slowly. Why do mornings have to jump up without warning. Demanding attention like a some little curtain climber. And they are so loud. (I meant mornings are loud, but actually, curtain climbers are loud too.)
This Monday was louder than most. Dinner was crowing by 6. (Dinner is a rooster, who we thought was a hen, until he developed some odd habits) The neighbor rode his Harley to work. And some street worker decided the church parking lot adjacent to my yard needed to be patched. But, as a quick thinking pain in the asphalt repairman, he left the truck in reverse for 20 minutes allowing all of us to enjoy the serenade of it's warning tone.
Nauseated and crabby as a constipated New Englander, I lay on the couch, wanting to vanish.
The phone rang. It was Judie. Judie is awesome. She's one of those women who manages to balance everything and still has time to take in 20 neighborhood kids and give them a shoulder, a friend and a mom. Honest, she has 20 extras. On top of her own 10 children.
Judie doesn't call on a Monday morning unless she needs something. She knows me too well. She knows the pains of virtual schooling. She is my mentor.
"Karen," she says "I'm in the hospital."
It takes me a millisecond to remember. She wasn't feeling well. She's been so tired lately. She was going in to the doctor, sometime....when was that....
"are you sitting down" she continues
...we talked just a few weeks ago. We laughed. I just got the tickets for the ballet. Why is she asking me to sit down?...
"It's leukemia. "
I honestly don't know what came next. Did I ask about Mark? Or the kids? Was I at least kind and gentle? Did I show compassion? I don't remember. Somewhere in the conversation she told me the odds are against her. Somewhere in the conversation she made me laugh. I wish it had been the other way around. Somewhere in the conversation my Monday blues seemed so small in comparison.
