Most of life is slog, slog, slog waiting for something to really happen, good or bad. We know we should be planning or at least enjoying the lull.

Early this morning, I heard (from the couch in the living room where I was sleeping) a commotion. My sister was making little noises of pain. My dad and my brother-in-law were talking. I figured she was hurting from the fall of Saturday evening. Soon, though, they told she had fallen again, trying to go to the bathroom. Dad and Bill had somehow gotten her on the bed. She thought her leg was broken. As it turns out, she was right.

My brother-in-law wisely called 911 to check it out. The paramedics thought it was broken. I usually vote with them. Then stablized it and got her on a gurney and out to the ambulance. My brother-in-law followed in his van and we followed in ours. Then Dad and I sat in a waiting room. Only two people were allowed with her. Dad went back for a while. I just listened to the reports. Last summer with Mom was banging around in my head. I read (I'd cleverly grabbed a backpack with breakfast bars and stuff to read) and drank insipid coffee from the machine. I pushed 'strongest' but it was weak enough to see through. Finally my brother-in-law said we should go home that they had her stable, got an IV in, thought they might do surgery, were waiting for the orthopedic guy.

So. We went home. We ate something. Egg and toast? Maybe. Had coffee. Took showers. It was only 9:30 or something and it felt like four in the afternoon. Finally we got a call that they were going to put a temporary cast on it and send her home. I got the parts to her wheelchair out of the basement that I could find and we waited. My brother-in-law got her transferred and in with our help on the steps and got her in bed with the leg up. He had to go get a prescription for some Percocet. My dad told him to get a bedside toilet. He had to drive a long way to pick one up. But that eliminated one complete (up and down) transfer to go to the toilet. My sister is bigger than I am. Neither Dad nor I would be good at transferring her safely, I don't think. My brother-in-law started thinking who he could get in to help him.

My sister kept apologizing for spoiling our fun but she was the one having no fun. She did manage to get up in bed and use the phone to keep her life going and read a little.

My sister's ill health and then falls would define our visit. We would go places but, generally, we stayed around with her a lot, too. I didn't mind although I'd have liked a hike in the Red Rocks or a trip up into the mountains. Maybe a bookstore visit. But, at least, my leg wasn't broken. My determination to stay fit redoubled. I would at least walk and, when I got home, I would get back on my program. I must be fit to face what old age brings!