Wow, this has been a day. I had an appointment down in Umeå (about and hour-and-a-half away) for some pre-surgery stuff before my ear operation tomorrow. I left on the bus just before seven this morning, thinking I’d be home by mid-afternoon, in plenty of time to rest up before going to Petra’s arts-and-crafts evening at five and Tage’s Lucia pageant at six-thirty. Yeah, right.

I had meeting after meeting and test after test and didn’t get out of the hospital until just after four. The absolute latest I could have caught a bus and been home in time was three-thirty, but instead I found myself rushing to catch the four-thirty bus. The winter weather made the trip even longer than usual, and it was nearly six-thirty by the time I got back home. I arranged with Olof to meet him at Petra’s thing, where I stayed and poked some cloves into oranges with her and Brynja for about an hour, and missed Tage’s event entirely (the second thing of his that I’ve missed in the space of a week. Gah.).

In all the hustle and bustle I also missed dinner and got back to our house just in time to inhale a quick bowl of oatmeal before my eight-o’-clock deadline. Now I’ve just got to pack a bag, read bedtime stories, and supervise a little holiday decorating before collapsing in my bed for a few hours. My alarm will be set for the ungodly hour of five o’ clock, and I’ll catch the bus at six so that I can be at the hospital bright and early for my operation. At least I’ll get some rest while that’s happening …