I had myself a wound concealed.

Tuesday I took the day off to get Middlest to the dentist for three fillings. It was a much needed break for me, and I didn't get too far behind at work. I've been struggling to keep up. It helped that last week I only had two attorneys to wrangle, not three.

On Thursday after work, I drove to Arlington to pick up Fourthborn for the Dollidays party on Saturday at our friend Lisa's.

Friday was a little more than half a day of work, as we had our Christmas luncheon at a restaurant just east of downtown. The venue was on the rooftop of the restaurant. During fair weather, the sides are rolled up so that you can enjoy the view and the breeze. On Friday we had mist with intermittent drizzle. I sat with my back to a gap but have thus far managed not to take ill from getting chilled and dampened. It was two long flights of stairs up to the venue, with no elevator, and two long flights back down again. We got to leave early. I took my coworkers back to our parking garage afterward and drove home to drop off most of my stuff.

Hit Costco on the way to McKinney to pick up rolls and tomatoes for the ward Christmas dinner on Saturday night. Drove around and around downtown McKinney, trying to find parking for the concert. Thankfully, there was a shuttle car in the parking lot, and I thoroughly enjoyed the All Star Jazzy Christmas concert. I will definitely become a season ticket holder next year. These guys are amazing, and in the meantime I have February's concert to look forward to: a polka band is joining the chamber orchestra!

The shuttle was elsewhere or absent when the concert was over, so I walked four blocks to Diana in the same miserable mist/wind/drizzle I'd "enjoyed" that afternoon. About two blocks in, my right hip was screaming. It was audibly popping, as my knees do when I do a forward fold (but the knees have enough sense not to hurt me). I think I may be bone-on-bone in that hip.

I came home, slept, helped clean the meetinghouse yesterday morning, then delegated the making of the brownies to Fourthborn while I took a 600mg Ibuprofen and a nap. We went to the dolly Christmas party. Middlest was in pain, crabby, and reactive. I inadvertently provoked some unpleasantness. Party ended, we came home, I took another nap, and then the three of us went to the ward Christmas party. Another low-key spat, inaudible to others, but we stayed until the kids all trooped over to get their faces painted and the general melee over the desserts had ended.

Took Middlest home, took Fourthborn home, came home, and popped one of the pain pills that was prescribed for the plantar fasciitis. Slept for ten and a half hours (without setting the alarm), leaving me just enough time to inhale breakfast, scoop my hair into a bun, throw on something clean, and walk into the chapel while the bishopric was making announcements but before our opening hymn.

I'm in significantly less pain today. After church I slept, not sure if I would make it to the stake Christmas musical offering tonight. But I did. I saw a dear friend from Fort Worth, there to tend her daughter's two little boys so that her daughter could play in the orchestra (daddy was home, ill). We caught up on each other's lives before the music started.

The greatest surprise was having the younger twin's wife come up to me with a huge, delighted grin, and wrap me in a bear hug. I walked over to her husband a few minutes later and wished him a merry Christmas and shook his hand. He responded without quite turning around to look at me. I'll take my miracles any way that I can get them. He also gave the closing prayer, and I could hear echoes Beloved's voice as he prayed.

Beloved has been gone almost six years now. I know I'll recognize his voice when I see him again, but the sound of it has pretty much faded from my memory. So this was a sweet and tender mercy, all around.

For part of the concert tonight, my friend's older grandson was trying to edge out of her reach. So I got up and stood just behind where he sat on the floor, hoping that my hip would cooperate. I may have stood there for half an hour or so, until he, of his own volition, scooched forward on his derriere three rows and returned to sit with his grandmother. I sat down gratefully. When I walked out to Diana after the closing prayer, I walked without pain.

I'm a little achy as I write this, and undecided whether I'll take another pain pill tonight. I will definitely be setting the alarm. My mashed potatoes are done, so I'll portion them out, reheat them if necessary, and grab my evening meds. I'd like to sleep for about three days, but I have work all week and other concerts on Tuesday and Friday nights. I'm hoping to say in my pillow fort all next weekend except for church. Wish me luck.