Vicissitude

That's the word of the day, then.

This Christmas was not the usual fair. I had my own personal, brief Christmas with my wife on Saturday morning, and so I am content. But it wasn't the relaxing weekend I'd have liked it to be. We spent three consecutive days in the emergency room for 6+ hours each time. Marisa's mother, Lidia, got a very, very serious bacterial ear infection (a variant of meningitus), which spread to her brain and spinal column. She's being treated, and with some lasting difficulties, she should recover in a week or so. The doctors said it was a close call, though. Had we heeded the advise of the EMS people who showed up when we called 911, she would most certainly be dead now. They just barely caught this one.

Lidia is a tough old Italian lady (more Hobbit than human, I say), and well-loved indeed by her three children. I saw a lot of that family unity over the weekend—this new family that I'm a part of. I'm proud to be counted among them now, even though I sometimes still feel like an outsider. Yet they have accepted me in full, I know that.

The real trouble lay in the not knowing, the waiting, the worrying. We didn't know how serious it all was, were beginning to fear the worst, but at least things are stable right now.

So that's that so far.