Ruminations of an Old Goat

Exactly thirty years ago, today, I married the girl in the window. I'm still amazed she said yes to my proposal. I'm equally amazed her father didn't run me off with a shotgun when asked him for permission to marry his youngest daughter (follow the link, above, for the details).

Thirty years can bring a lot of changes. Most of them, especially the Boy, have been good changes. A few of them have been not-so-good changes. Those of you who have been around the Friday Challenge since at least September of last year are probably aware one of those not-so-good changes has been going on since Labor Day weekend of 2010. In six days, my wife will begin receiving chemotherapy in preparation for a bone marrow transplant. At least we get to spend our anniversary together. She was in the hospital on our twenty-ninth anniversary.

For most of the next three months, I will be performing a balancing act between being my wife's primary caregiver during the most dangerous part of her treatment, the Boy, work, and some semblance of every day life. I'll still find time to hang around the Friday Challenge because all of you help keep me sane. (Yes, the pathetic level of sanity I display here passes for "sane" in my book.) I may even manage to squeeze in the periodic column, but don't hold your breath.

Also, on a totally unrelated topic, it appears I did not manage to win the Esquire Short Short Story contest or finish in the top ten. According to the rules, the top ten authors were expected to have travel arrangements to New York City made by October 17, which is today. I haven't heard anything from the contest judges about arranging a flight to New York City, ergo I didn't win. I'm not surprised, considering that they must have had thousands of entries, but an announcement would have been nice.