Posting live from the surgical waiting area...

So I'm in the surgical waiting area of a hospital in Central NJ right now. My mom is having knee replacement surgery - her other knee was replaced back in June. Woke up at 5am, at the hospital at 6am, through the series of waiting rooms, and into surgical waiting. On the plus side, they have free danishes and wifi, and a cafe that serves Starbucks coffee downstairs. On the con side, well, I'm in a hospital waiting room in NJ.

I'm kind of grumpy about being here - I hate taking off from work, I have a ton of stuff I need to do around the house, I miss my cat and my gym and my DVR full of unwatched episodes of Chuck. But I figure it's the least I could do - especially since when I had open heart surgery when I was 4, my mom got a cot and camped out in my hospital room.

I drove up last night, leaving Baltimore a little before 7pm after a quick half-workout at the gym, on the theory that it would let me leave late enough to miss some of the rush hour traffic. I usually don't mind long drives, but it was cold and rainy and I had the eternal choice of a foggy window or a defroster that was warm enough to make me want to doze off.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much - it's probably worse for my brother, who lives nearby and does a lot more driving and parental babysitting (my dad was diagnosed with MS a little over a year ago and doesn't do much). But coming up here still interrupts what little life I have. I figure I'll go back Sunday, and come back next weekend basically overnight (drive up late Saturday morning, drive back Sunday afternoon), so I have some time to work out, do stuff around the house, and not drive in the dark. I'll also be up for a couple days for Thanksgiving. So by the end of November I'll have spent 3 of 4 weekends in NJ, and logged about 800 miles (and several quarts of gas station coffee) on the Ranger driving back and forth.

At least she's out of knees that need replacing.