To confess to something I've been laying low and hoping to avoid confessing to for the past 2-1/2 days, I actually did not fly out to K.C. at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning.

In fact, having been shipped a paper ticket for the first time in the last four or five years, I completely forgot that when you have a paper ticket, they won't let you get on the plane if you show up at the airport without it.

I've rescheduled the trip for next weekend and I'll try again. I won't be able to get to Joplin this time (I'm only there for two days) but I'll be going back before long and will add a couple of days for the Joplin leg of the trip that time.

Just picture me, after having rolled out of bed at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday and made the poor R.C. drive me to the airport at 5:00, standing at the ticket counter and being told that I am, in fact, too stupid to be allowed on an airplane.

It was such fun....

In the meantime, Mom isn't doing at all well and instead of the 1-2 years they originally suggested, it seems that we may be looking at a time-frame more like 1-2 weeks.

We suspect that her kidneys are already shutting down, she can barely take food, and she can't have any water because her throat muscles can't deal with the liquid and it makes her choke. Her medical directive is specific about refusing breathing/feeding tubes and other treatments that will prolong life without sustaining any quality of life--decisions I understand and agree with.

Sigh. This is not easy.

P.S. The company that was absolutely going to make a decision on Friday and notify all interviewees by the end of the day? Has not written. I suspect they weren't able to schedule all of the interviews as quickly as they wanted.