Life. It is what it is. I had every intention of getting RESCUE MOON released today. Or tomorrow. I’m never sure what day I should release a book. More about that in a minute. I’m writing this because RM isn’t ready yet. It’s still baking, so to speak and to keep to today’s usual food-based theme. Stuff happened this weekend. Nothing bad, jsut…stuff. And as a result, I found myself rewriting the same page like ten different times. That means that my head is not in the write space, (Word misues intentional.) And then yesterday happened.

As most of you know, I’ve been involved with the fire service and law enforcement in a variety of ways in previous career incarnations. And when we lose a first responder, it messes with my emotions. In the past few weeks, we’ve lost a local on-duty motorcycle officer in a traffic accident. Drunk/drugged driver. Then we lost a volunteer firefighter in a traffic accident. He was off duty. Then an Osage County dep;uty died in a third traffic accident as he was on his way to report for duty. And then yesterdday, two Oklahoma County deputies were shot as they were serving a lock-out notice. One was standing at the back door of the residence when he was shot. The second deputy was shot as he tried to resuce the first. One died. One has been stablilized as of the writing of this. And yes, I stayed glued to the continuing coverage. Our county sheriff broke down during one of the press conferences. And yeah, my heart hurts.

The shooter jumped in a pickup truck that had a boat hitched to it and took off. There were sporadic shots fired by the suspect during the chase along a busy interstate. And then the idiot got off on an exit that put him into what was basically a dead end–the main gate of Tinker Air Force Base. Uhm, yeah. 

So no work done and I almost didn’t want to post at all but hey, prayers and healing thoughts are appreciated for those involved. Nanes haven’t been released (again, as of this typing) so I don’t know if I know them or not.  Doesn’t matter. They are part of the family.

I’m not going to get into politics beyond this–BLUE LIVES DO EFFING MATTER.

Not to be totally macabre but it’s truly a southern thinig to provide food in times like this. My mother-in-law actually gave me a casserole recipe that the the family funeral stand-by. No. Really. And it was easy and tasty and not just for times of grief. She whipped it up when people were sick too. That’s the way it used to be. People cared. People looked after each other. I don’t know what’s wrong with the world today. I have my theories but this is not the time or the place. 

So, no actually treat today. I will mention that I’m totally happy with the Hamilton Beach elelctric grill I bought on a whim. Homemade hamburgers are considered comfort food in my house and that’s what I fixed for dinner last night. It takes about 10 minutes to preheat, sear the bugers (which seals in the jucy part but not the greasy part), and then grill the meat.

I’ll be back at it today but I’ll carry the worry and the hurt in my heart. And yeah, the emotion that builds up does get released into my writing because that’s what makes the words real. Anyway…