Regular readers of S & A may have been wondering what happened to me since I haven’t written anything for quite a while for the site. So I decided to let all of you (well O.K. maybe only two of you who really care) where have I been these past weeks.

The answer is very simple. I’ve been sick. And by that I mean really sick.

I don’t want to get into the gory details on what started out over a month ago, as what was then planned as a routine examination of a on-going problem with my leg, turned out to be something slightly more serious, just before turning into something not lethal but really serious. And before I knew it, I had to have two serious operations on my leg in less then 24 hours, with another smaller procedure on it a week later.

Needless to say, recuperation has been long and painful, with some setbacks along the way; and then there’s physical therapy which I’m still dealing with.

As you can guess, I’ve been through the ringer, but the good news is that the worst is definitively over, and I’m well on my way to becoming my old self again, or a reasonable facsimile of. 

Actually, I did try to write some new pieces during my ordeal but wasn’t able to, because, as I discovered: 1) hospitals are really not great places for writing unlike libraries or you own home where you don’t have to deal with screams, odd smells, bad lighting, constant interruptions to draw your blood etc; and 2) writing is really hard when you’re in excruciating pain.

And it goes without saying that an experience like this teaches you just how fragile life is. You’re here one moment and literally you could be gone the next, so make sure you look forward to, value and treasure every day you have.

I’ll be back soon.