I have to say that being in hospital, unexpectedly, and under the surgeon’s knife gives you a different perspective on what you have. Particularly when you’re 41…and assume to be ‘halfway through’ this journey we call life, not at the end.

And you get a wake up call.

I’ve got a trio of young children who need their Mum, and despite something relatively serious by the time our plane landed, I’ve survived that, the surgery and am tonight (Friday) back home.

I’m tired, I’m sore (from surgery) and emotionally drained, I have to say, but to have Jim and the kids around me gladdens my heart this evening (and Jim’s chicken soup…even if only from a can, for dinner, brought tears to my eyes).

I’m OK, I’m fine, and mending. SLN continues. Life continues 🙂

In the end up, I had zero wifi in hospital, so I spent the time writing blog entries and doing more ‘tattoos’ similar to those I’d experimented with earlier this year (all done on Gimp, without having the opportunity to go inworld to test them out).

In hospital, I had also got limited music to entertain me. It didn’t matter, as I was essentially listening to Leonard Cohen on my iPod, all day, every day. Or reading a couple of his lyric anthologies.

So the SL associated time when I was in hospital ended up me making Leonard Cohen related tattoos 🙂

I WON’T be on SL over the weekend. I have children to catch up on. And a loving, wonderful husband. But I’ll be back next week, I think. What I can tell you is that when my surgery scar heals, I’m going to have it tattooed, to remind me how fragile life can be, to remind me how to live every day like it might be my last, and to remind me to give thanks for my wonderful husband and children. That has become my story now, and I don’t want to forget it, despite having previously been anti-tattoo.

My beautiful husband and children danced me through…not the the end of…but the continuing story of….love.

Ella