MIKE'S HEADBANGER

Yesterday (Wednesday) Mike had a morning from hell. Tuesday had been exceptionally busy for him – lots of clients at TaxTyme and a wilderness meeting in the evening. He didn’t get home until after 9:00. He got up Wednesday at 5:30 in order to make a batch of oat bran muffins but he thought it was Thursday (garbage pick-up day). So, he dashed around, gathered all the house trash to the garbage can and carried it out to the street in order to make the 6:00 a.m. pick-up time, discovering that our sloping driveway was treacherously slick. Coming back into the house, he realized it was really Wednesday and that he had forgotten to get the paper. So, he finished mixing his muffins, put them in the oven, then went back out to get the garbage can and the paper. On his way up the driveway, he slipped and fell, hitting his head on the pavement. He was dazed by the fall, so he was outside recovering for a few minutes.

Back in the house, he stretched out on the sofa with an ice pack. The gash above his eyebrow was bleeding freely. Meanwhile, his muffins were done, so he took those out of the oven, leaving the oven door open. The sudden burst of heat in the cold house triggered the smoke alarm which began its shrill cheeping to alert us to non-existent fire danger. That panicked Nellie who plastered herself to my knee.

Well, Mike ate breakfast while I fixed a lunch for him and he went on to work despite his injury. A blessed calm came over the house. Later in the morning, he had a routine follow-up with the podiatrist who bandaged his wound for him. He was in good spirits last night and took this “self portrait.”