An automotive accident this morning disrupted life a bit.

No, I am fine, and the family is fine.  None of us were in the accident, and it did not involve our vehicles.  However, just as the last kid got on the bus an e-mail was received by a member of our household alerting us to the fact that someone nearly family, someone to whom all versers owe some gratitude for his part in our game, was a passenger in an accident in the next state.

Information is sketchy.  Among the casualties is his cell phone, so he is cut off from the simplest forms of communication; his e-mails tell us by virtue of their existence that he is able to type, but have omitted detailed answers to questions.  We have learned that he received twenty-three stitches, but not the anatomical location of this repair.  We attempted to determine where to go to see him, or even if he would be awake for visitors, but this information did not come back to us.  We are concerned, but uncertain what we can do.

It was this concern that caused me first to get dressed instead of going to bed.  It was this uncertainty that caused me then to go back to bed fully dressed, to be awakened several times by a telephone brought into the bedroom so we would know if he, or anyone near the scene, called.  That call was not one of those which disrupted our sleep.

Speaking of calls, I am aware that another friend has been trying to reach me by phone.  I am aware of this because I see his number on my caller ID at those odd times when I have opportunity to check it.  I probably told him what I tell everyone, that the most reliable means of contacting me is e-mail, which will be answered thrice a week, or in a more serious emergency via post on the Gaming Outpost Forum (“Please call me at one in the morning at home” is sufficient to alert me to the need). Telephone contact is extremely unreliable, because my schedule is constantly in flux, I am always trying to steal an extra bit of sleep sometime, and I come and go without warning.  I almost wound up driving a son back to work in the wee hours of this morning, but someone else took that errand; I also learned late last night that I was invited to attend a choir concert for another son, who had to reschedule his visit to the doctor because his absence from school today would mean his exclusion from the concert, and his failure to be in the concert would mean his failure of the course.  I have not yet made the new appointment.

Let me then work on what needs to be done for today.  You never know when something is going to derail the plans yet again.

–M. J. Young