Well.

We were a little late in the morning; partly because the iPhone was syncing and took time to cancel. Also, I booked flights to Seattle in May for Ray and me. It was stressful because one was paid and one was with miles (yay!). As far as I know, you can't book 2 and pay for them separately. And you know how flights can disappear on the internet. So, I was terrified that I would get one booked and then it would be gone when I went to book the second. Or that I would screw up and not get us on the same flights. But all is well about that.

It was about 10:30 when I got to the Land Trust. Nancy was meeting with Laura. I went to turn my computer on (Nathan's) and nothing happened. I tried the power strip. Nothing. I thought I might have done something wrong shutting it down or something. But eventually I realized all the lights in the place were off--and the phones! No power. They had already called Georgia Power and it came back on at noon. It was off in the church and the office next door, too. And probably lots of other places, from the wind storm the night before. Couldn't make calls or work on the computer. But it was a sunny day and the building is so open and light that we could see perfectly well. I worked on rewriting part of a grant for Nancy. When the power came back, I had some emails about the bike ride to respond to.

Then I left for my writing class, which was lovely, involving cutting pictures out of magazines to glue in a collage on the cover of our journals. Fun! I picked up Ray after 4 and we went on home. The Captain and Vanessa were there. It was cool and windy, but sunny. He was working on the garden, of course. I dug up the beets, which were mostly greens, and started the soup. They came in for a drink and snack (I was starving). Ray had gone up for a nap. While we were chatting, I had a call from Becky. Bertha had a stroke and she was headed to the hospital. I said let me know if I should come. A little later she called me and suggested I come on down. About 6:30 and I left my soup without eating!

I could write a lot about Bertha and being in the hospital. Time changes there. Janna and Ron went to get a break and some food. Bertha's sister Vi was visiting and she and Becky and I stayed there, chatting with nurses and technicians and taking turns touching Bertha and talking to her. Sometimes, she tried to talk and we were able to understand some of it. Okay was one thing she said sometimes when we asked her if she was comfortable. We even sang some songs. Trying to think of ones that don't have anything to do with death--harder than you would think. Go Tell Aunt Rhody? no Clementine? no Swing Low Sweet Chariot? no I've Been Working on the Railroad. White Coral Bells. yes. Kent came and he and Becky went to eat. A young woman named Stephanie who worked some for Bertha. Janna came back and Ron took Vi to Bertha's apartment. Janna held her mother's hand and talked to her. At one point, she started to cry and her mother tried to reach up and comfort her. It was pretty emotional. Becky came back and I left and went home to my soup, a little TV and my bed.

I did not sleep well, couldn't get comfortable, and had visions of the hospital and Bertha. I think she will probably recover to some extent, based on the efforts she was making to talk. But thinking about death is hard for me and important.