emergency flight

My other half caught an emergency flight to Atlanta this afternoon. I got one of those phone calls that begins, "Call me immediately. X is in the hospital..." The kind I dread. I spent fourth period talking to the United Airlines rep on the phone while my students asked me to sign all kinds of passes I never read. I had no idea there are such things as emergency ticket rates.

His step-father, the man he grew up with, had a cerebral hemorrhage this morning. Last I heard they were waiting for the neurosurgeon. A surgery may be necessary in the morning.

The only thing I know about cerebral hemorrhages is that they sometimes cause strokes and are related to aneurysms. An aneurysm killed a girl named Vanessa on my soccer team when I was in 5th grade. She had a headache, took a nap, and then we were all singing "Amazing Grace" in a strange, beautiful, white church.

I'm scared, worried, and selfishly lonely.