Unforseen Events

Remember the words from my Morning Prayer that I shared on Tuesday?

“Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with firm conviction that Thy will governs all.”

So, how come my first response when I got the call this afternoon from Jackson that my mother had fallen in the dining room at her nursing home (300 miles away) and was in the emergency room at the hospital wasn’t peaceful? How come my first thoughts weren’t, “Thy will governs all”?

It was such dejavú—from the last time I was at the beach, in October. I had driven to Seagrove with my husband for his recovery from surgery when I got the call that Mom had fallen the first time, which resulted in 2 surgeries, rehab and finally a permanent move to the nursing home.

The call came after a morning of writing today before heading down to the beach to relax for a while. I had just gone for a walk and had settled down to work on editing my morning’s work when my cell phone rang.

So, I spent the next 6 hours communicating (or waiting for a call to be returned) with the people at the emergency room and the nursing home, angsting over whether or not I needed to hop in the car and drive to Jackson. To make a long story (that doesn’t cast the emergency room folks in a good light) short, the good news is Mom didn’t re-break her hip, and she’s back at the nursing home with only a small cut on her head. I’ll see her Saturday on my way back to Memphis, but it’s hard not to feel like a bad daughter for not being with her at the emergency room today. I’m thankful for a good friend who told me I’m a Good Daughter. If you’re new to my blog, you can catch up on my long-distance care-giving episodes here.

Meanwhile back at the beach, I enjoyed meeting Phil and Karla Hardin from Jackson (Mississippi) yesterday, and today Phil and I had a great visit about writing and other stuff. Phil moved to Clinton, Mississippi, from Pennsyvania to attend Reformed Theoogical Seminary. He and Karla still live in Clinton, where they have a counseling business, Passionate Living Counseling.

Turns out their daughter, Abigail, a student at Alabama, has a children’s book coming out, Look At Me, I Am Just Like You, which she is signing next Friday, March 27, at Lemuria Books in Jackson. Small world, the beach. And Mississippi.

A couple of parting shots… caught this surfer just before he wiped out a few minutes before sunset...

… which was beautiful.

Almost as beautiful as this one, last night on the canal by Lulu’s, where I went to take in some local music.

I’m staying in tonight. Recovering from an afternoon of trying not to worry about Mom… and thinking about another part of my Morning Prayer:

“In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by Thee.”

Maybe tomorrow I’ll do a better job of remembering.