My life came to screeching halt Thursday when I received a phone call from a hospital in Oklahoma telling me my mom and stepdad had been taken following a serious car accident. For the next five hours I was on the phone with family members-both my sisters, niece, nephew and brother in law as well as my step dad’s one son, I talked to many nurses who shared as much info as the laws would allow and finally was able to talk to both my mom and stepdad. Given their injuries they were in separate parts of the hospital. It was difficult being so many miles away and hearing the pain and confusion in their voices. It didn’t all hit me until this morning when the phone calls and texts started again. I found myself in the position of being the go to person for info. Finally when I got off the phone around noon I called Mike and broke down crying in sadness, frustration and fear. God bless Mike as I had to repeat myself quite a few times I was crying so hard. I am at a pet sitting job and the family is overseas so it’s not like I can drop everything and go. 
I found myself searching for something to ground me and found it in cleaning the stall of the horse i am caring for. I have been cleaning stalls for thirty years and to me it is meditative and satisfying. I also enjoy the company of the dogs I am watching. They are characters. I tried hard to find something to photograph but given the gray rainy day it was nothing popped out at me. I took the photos two days ago in the sunset. 

On the bright side my mom and step dad hope to fly home Monday. I will be there to pick them up. I think I did ok handling the situation that arose and I learned a lot about others. I am grateful for my friends and Mike, without them I would have been a hot mess. I’m looking forward to the farm tomorrow and hoping to photograph the lambs and their moms. There are twenty nine lambs this year. I also look forward to starting to document the flower gardens at work. I suppose I look to creativity to ground me too. Namaste