Baltimore and MAL

I went to visit my late Sir's hubby, Mike, this past weekend. He had just had some surgery for prostate cancer a few days ago and had recovered enough to be mobile and I wanted to visit him for a bit, in no small part because it was also his birthday on Monday. The weekend started out nicely with me arriving on Friday and having dinner with Mike before heading off to curl up in Steve's place (thank's Steve!). Mike looked well, and was certainly very glad that the last of his surgery and medical issues were probably behind him.

I had a late breakfast with him and Steve, and was thinking I would like to get a picture of the three of us together as I had not done so in a very long time. I had been under some pressure to go to Mid-Atlantic Leather from friends, and given the late start I had to the day, I left in a bit of a hurry for an unannounced visit just to show face and then head back to Baltimore. I ended up being there in the late afternoon, just in time to catch the puppy mosh, before heading off to have some kibble with my friend Saxon (a friendly Rottweiler on the outside but a bit of a Poodle / Jack Russel mix on the inside... if he reads this I am going to need to disappear for a bit, LOL). The day was a bit hectic, but we had a good deal of fun.

Unfortunately, later in the night I got a call from Steven telling me that Mike had been readmitted into the hospital for some serious bleeding. Poking and prodding hadn't turned up much, and when I went to visit him the next day he really did not look good at all. Mike's friend Mark was there already when Steven and I arrived, and we visited for a while. Mike was not in good shape physically, looking very pale and thin, and his spirits were really low. I did my best to help console him, but I was really worried that I was going to lose him. I have to admit that I was rather scared, and though I was trying to be encouraging, I know that more than a few tears escaped while I was with him. Of course, among the things that one thinks about is things like, Why didn't I take that extra few seconds to take a photo the other day?

Thankfully, Mike is recovering. But life does have an uneasy way of reminding us that we should act on things that come to mind, and that there is no time like the present, for we can plan all we want but nature manufactures its own course and plots our destinies.

==============================

A music video for this post:


Eddie Vedder and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Long Road (from Dead Man Walking)