I hope your 2021 is off to a good start. For my family, this first quarter of 2021 was pretty rough.
Baby #4 made her arrival in January—ten days early. She was breech and stubbornly refused to cooperate, which meant I had to have a c-section. Oh, my. I don’t know why I never realized before that a c-section is major abdominal surgery! She was worth it, but, good grief. *shakes head* Easiest delivery I’ve ever had, hardest recovery. She’s a beautiful baby, though, and her siblings adore her.
A week after we brought the baby home from the hospital, my stepdaughter tested positive for Covid. Five days after that, so did I. (We escaped it all through 2020, but I guess it caught up to us at last.)
I am so grateful that we had mild cases; apart from loss of taste/smell and slight fatigue/head congestion, we didn’t have any other symptoms. I’m also grateful the baby made it through all right. And, I will say, if you’re going to be stuck in quarantine, having just had a baby is a great thing—there are already people signed up to drop off food for you. (Before they run, that is.)
We’re recovered now, although my taste and smell have not fully returned. That has been an incredibly strange experience.
The last major thing that happened was that the end of January, the same weekend we got out of quarantine, my dad went into the hospital with a massive brain bleed. He died three weeks later, just shy of his 67th birthday. (Not Covid-related.)
One of the hardest things about losing Dad—apart from the shock, because he had been improving and we all thought he was headed to a rehab facility—is that the last time I saw him in person, I couldn’t hug him because I had Covid. My dad dropped off groceries at the door for us and waved to me from a distance and that was it.
Grief is an ocean—it comes in waves, it ebbs and flows like the tide. My heart aches for all the people who’ve lost loved ones or had loved ones sick in the hospital during this past year. It’s so hard not being able to visit your family. It’s hard on spouses who lose the love of their life without being able to see them one last time, like my mom did.
Still, I’m also grateful for technology. We were at least able to video chat a few times with my dad while he was in the hospital. All of my siblings and I got to say goodbye, even though we didn’t realize at the time it would the last time we said goodbye to Dad this side of heaven.
We were able to finally hold a memorial service a couple of weeks ago, and that helped provide much-needed closure and another reminder that death is not the end. My dad is with Jesus, and one day I’ll see him again.
Needless to say, all of these combined life rolls took a toll on my writing. I’m slowly working my way back to normal, however. Writing has always been my escape and way of processing life, and my dad unfailingly encouraged me to keep going.
Release News
On the publishing side of things, I have great news. I already had projects in the publishing pipeline before 2021 began, and they more or less came out on time. I am thrilled to announce that I now have two new books available for your reading pleasures.
Head Case, the first book in my new Finder series about a detective on a space station, came out in early January. (Read the release post here.)
The second book in the series, Magna, was released this week. (Read the release post here.)
I’m really excited about both of these books!
One note: the paperback editions of both have been delayed due to life, the universe, and everything, to quote Douglas Adams. As soon as they’re available, I’ll post an update.
I hope you enjoy the start of this new series as much as I enjoyed writing them. May they transport you out of the real world for a little while and onto a space station someplace else in the universe…