How to end the year and begin another with a bang...or crash

"Hi baby, how are you?"
"Good mom, how are you?"
Mentally I was already answering the questions I was sure were to follow: yes, I finally got my car back. No, I don't think I can make it down tomorrow - the doctor's office messed up and I have to go tomorrow instead of today. I'll see you Saturday at dinner.
"Better than your father."
uh oh
"What do you mean?"

In a matter of seconds, our plans for ending the holiday season with a quiet New Year at home and one final family gathering before returning to work flipped upside-down as I learned that my dad had fallen from a ladder and was in ICU trauma dealing with multiple breakages.

I can barely remember Christmas in the whim of packing up our clothes and dog for the next few days as we went to Virginia to help my parents as best as we could: buying groceries, preparing meals, running laundry, and making hospital visits.

Despite the bad news, we are blessed: we were able to arrive hours earlier than anticipated, and while dad's injuries are many, he is well and will heal: surgeries have been completed and progress appears promising. Things could have been worse. The upcoming months will be ones of rehabilitation and recovery, and I suspect he will be back on a ladder the second he's allowed. The man can't sit still.

Obviously, things such as blog posts, resolutions, and re·solve's 3-year anniversary yesterday have recently become a lower priority. I'm certainly not going anywhere, though! Thanks for understanding.

Here's to a happy and hopefully healthy 2016 to the rest of you.