Well! - She's got gall!

Indeed I do, and stones too.

And sludge.

All of which are located painfully under my right ribcage.  But not for long.  Next week I will undergo a non-emergent, though much needed gallbladder removal surgery.  And I thought balancing my already overloaded schedule was a challenge! 

Since this is an outpatient procedure, I plan on working at my job the evening prior to surgery.  I mean, I've been working all along despite feeling crummy and broken, and since I had previously switched shifts with a co-worker who needs the evening off, no sense messing with her schedule. My employer (and great friend, by the way) has graciously offered to cover for me for a few days afterward, but I'm planning on climbing back into the saddle by Friday. I am woman - hear me roar!  Or, as seems to be the case with gallbladders - hear me belch.

Husband, who I already know to be a saint, has been exasperatingly wonderful. I say that because I have horrible Mom-guilt.  If I hadn't been so vain and wanted to lose those extra pounds that the Critters say made me all soft and cuddly, I wouldn't have cut back so drastically on carbs and stuffed myself instead with meat and nuts.  Having a  spouse with a natural metabolism that allows him to consume all the cookies he wants and still wear the same size jeans as when we got married does something to the psyche.  But to tell the truth, I felt a lot better getting the weight off.......until I didn't.........feel better, that is.  Anyhow, Husband will be picking up the slack on the home front, and doing an enormous amount of extra driving, besides taking over as M.O.O.H.D.S. - Main Overseer of Homework & Dispute Settler - which can try the patience of even the most sainted.  So the quicker I recuperate and get off my duff the better!

The main reason I need to get on with things is that the world doesn't need more whiners.  There is so much genuine suffering out there.  Belly-aching about something as trivial as a gallbladder when wars are raging, homes are being broken, and children are starving seems so self indulgent.  We personally know couples in the middle of divorce, an eleven year old child who just underwent a 10 hour surgery on her spine (not her first either) and people in their prime with terminal diagnoses.

Life is full of little bumps and bruises, but that's life.  According to Husband and the Aunties (and the uncles too, I guess), my mother-in-law used to always tell them to "offer it up".  Another favorite saying of hers was "this too shall pass".  Neither is very original, but both hold wisdom that I hope I can pass along to the Critters, since she never got the chance.  Maybe if I just hold them really tight (while I still can), all the whining (which, alas, they already picked up from me) will get squoze out.  And like the sponges they are, they'll soak up the good stuff.


*A note for Firstborn, the only Critter with any memory of her paternal grandma: It is okay, however, to still want your Momster there to take care of you when you have a temperature of 101 and can't even drag yourself out of your dorm room to the food commons!  Wish I could be there, darling girl!