The week ahead...

...is now only a few hours away, and there are already some hitches in my so-called "plan."

I had intended to do nothing much at all (except for cleaning, walking and relaxing) through at least Thursday. I figured no one would deny my the chance to have two full weeks of recovery time, right?

Nuh-uh. Wrong.

I have two articles to put together this week, and will have to make sure my, well, "motor skills" are back to 100%. I knew I'd have to break down and do one, but photographer D. -- who was, it must be said, very kind to me while I was laid up -- went ahead and set one up for Wednesday assuming I'd be wholly functional and ready to go by then.

I'm not exactly saying I'm afraid to get back into the world. But a few things happened while I was "away" that will make life more difficult, and of course there are new financial and other hurdles to surmount.

There's a different "me" here, too, and for those who would minimize the effect of this time and the various physical traumas involved, I can only say I'm not sure how I will react to some of the issues ahead. That bugs me. Even if not always the sharpest knife in the drawer, I have long reacted to whatever came along in ways predictable to me. Not so now. This is the most bothersome aspect of what lies ahead.

There's no panic in my head, but rather a kind of what-the-hell acceptance of whatever gets lobbed my way this week.

I mean, It's all small stuff. The really big things, the ones that will have considerable effect on the quality and duration of my life, aren't even on the radar this week, or are at most the smallest of far-off blips.

Strange to me that the simplest part of what I have to do, what I have been doing for what seems like forever -- which is to punch out a couple of rhythmic, elegant strings of words for editors -- is bugging me in a completely new way.

I'll be interested to see how I do.