A Personal Anxiety Attack

Life is normally predictable.  You know what tomorrow will bring by looking at your schedule. Plans are made for your day and are expected to be met to some degree.

Then there are the days where something happens and everything is thrown into the air, leaving you to wonder when things will feel back in place. Leaving you standing there, awe-stricken at how many things we take for granted.  Sometimes these days are rocked by a unexpected death, an accident, or a broken heart.

I'm close to my parents.  Physically (about 7 miles between our houses) and emotionally (we talk daily).  A year ago, my dad went through a threatening case of diverticulitis (a hole in the colon).  It was a couple weeks in the hospital, intense treatments of antibiotics, and a lot of worry.  When he was first diagnosed, it was extreme enough to push your mind to the dark side of losing a loved one, and it rocked my world for quite a while.

Thursday night, my healthy mom tripped on a kitchen rug and fell.  Big deal, right? We all trip and fall.  There was no one home to see what happened, but the end result of her falling is a crushed eye socket, broken left side of her nose, and a pinched muscle that affects her ability to blink and see.  She hit the sharp corner of the island with her chest leaving a small puncture wound.  She's sore from landing, from the swelling, from her glasses smashing into her face.

As we learn the extent of the damage, and the amount of surgery she will need to correct the breaks, it makes me sick.  Sick with worry, sick with anxiety attacks, sick with "What if"s.

Life is precious. Life is short. A simple trip can send things falling into chaos.

Hug your loved one a little tighter next time and remember to enjoy the little things.  I will every time I see my mom, knowing although this sucks, she will be OK.

XO!