A sign of life entry? in A small but passable life.

I’m still alive. Thirty days in the wild. Glorious. I kept my handwritten journal with an entry every day. Some day it’ll be transcribed and posted here. Trivia, really.

Okay . . . The week before I left Arizona my little sister was diagnosed with cancer. The doc said shit like “It’s everywhere.” and “I’ve never seen anything like it.” A follow up confirmed it was stage 4. They scheduled to start chemo and would decide on surgery later, possibly removal of the bladder and lady parts. Bad news.

Okay . . . I return to the Ozark’s and spend a week at Jassy’s sleeping on her extra bedroom floor, riding out the last winter storm Thor. On March 5th Jassy, Liam Dog and I headed out to the woods. They spent the first weekend out there with me.

Two weeks later I’m lying back in my hammock when Jassy, Liam Dog, Jassy’s mom and Daisy Dog come hiking down the trail. Jassy had brought me a half gallon of whole white milk, a half gallon of chocolate milk and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Heaven sent! After a short visit they hiked back out.

Two weeks later, Easter morning, my thirty-first day, Jassy’s mom picked me up and we headed to the city for an Easter dinner at Jassy’s.

And right after dinner Mom calls. She was in the hospital. She said they wouldn’t let her go home alone and was threatening to send her to a nursing home. She said she needed me to come out. I said I would.

We get on the internet and start looking for flights. Tuesday’s flights were all booked up. There was one seat left on Thursday’s flight. Jassy jumped on it with her debit card and nabbed it for me. We were laughing when Clayton said “Just think about that person who was just one click away from nabbing that last seat!”

Okay . . . Today Mom called and said she was at home but still needed me there. I told her I’d be there on Thursday afternoon. She said she had someone to come out to Mesa to pick me up.

That’s the deal. I told her the last time she got sick that I’d come, but she had to ask. You gotta do what you gotta do. Haredawg knows where I’m coming from.

Anyway there isn’t a return flight booked. I’m not going to make the decision on when I can come back to the Ozark’s. My plan was to help Jassy find a house. Man, we seen some nice ones today! I wanted to walk my sidewalks with Liam Dog, hang out in my hangouts, And get back to my same old routine. Oh ,well.

So, five days after returning to civilization I’m flying out again. I’m pretty bummed about missing the Ozark’s Spring.

Jassy and I went grocery shopping today. I had some mad, mad cravings going on. We planned on spending no more than $150 and were throwing crap in the cart left and right and hit, I think, $128. Man, we’re getting good! I’ve ate so much junk today I’m a little bloated.

I’ve got 258 entries to read on my Bookmarks list. Damn, guys!

Mom has good internet so maybe I can get caught up.

Anyway, we’re hanging out at the student union this evening. They’re working on homework and of course I’m just dinking.

Oh yeah, Jassy got a job! She’ll be working at Panera. She’s pretty excited about it. She dragged me into walmart today so she could get new work clothes and shoes.

I’ve got two days to clean up and stash my backpacking gear and pack for the desert. I did leave a lot of stuff at Mom’s so that saves some room. I think I can get everything in my new knapsack. And I am taking those Frankenstein heavy duty hiking boots I bought many years ago but never worn. They’re Merrell One Sport Moraines. If they can’t handle the desert nothing can.

Anyway, I’ve got some Grey’s Anatomy to catch up on!