Christmas Eve

My parents have left here and are on their way up to my brothers; Keith and I will soon follow. I spent the whole night in pain; fortunately the muscle relaxers and the vicodin both make me sleepy, so I was pretty well knocked out. Each time I woke I was immediately conscious of two things, the pain shooting down my right leg and that soon Keith would no longer by lying beside me.

I feel so terrible about the timing of my injury; the entire two weeks Keith has been here, I've been limping, groaning and gasping my way around the house. Riding in the truck is excruciating, even though the seats are heated. I haven't been able to ride the four wheeler since that one time, and I know Keith was looking forward to taking it out and trying out the new tires. I would have encouraged him to go riding with some of his buddies, but all his buddies are either in Indiana or Iraq. He's been so incredibly patient with me, despite all this.

There's no way I can continue with my usual job; I can't risk my back again and I have no idea how long I'll be in pain. My appointment with the back specialist is not until next week; I've already run out of vicodin and must get more today, despite the fact that I've been spacing them out as far as possible and taking ibuprofen instead as often as possible.

I called the clinic this morning, but their entire computer system is down. Worse comes to worse, I guess we can go to the emergency room. On Christmas eve. sigh.

Oh well. That's just the pain talking. On the other hand, it's Christmas Eve, and I have Keith and my family close beside me and tomorrow, we will drive up to have Christmas dinner with my brother and his family, and Mom and Dad. It will be such fun to watch my niece and nephew's faces when they open the gifts Keith and I found for them.

Alcohol will be consumed, children will be hyper, there will be the smell of good food and too many people in the kitchen, a dog underfoot and carols playing on the stereo. And maybe after the meal we will make lovely music on the rims of half full wine glasses as we sit, too stuffed to move from our seats.