Saturday, May 20, 2017

Packing for the Hospital



By
Scott D. Parker

I had to accompany my wife to the hospital this week. She needed surgery--success!--and I was to spend the night with her. Plus there was the waiting time. Clearly, I needed reading material. I hope I'm not alone in the following packing regimen.

First thing in the bag was the Kindle Paperwhite. It is my go-to reading device when I don't read a paperback. This would account for the novels I'm reading especially at night when the lights were out. Then, if I wanted to pass the time reading some comics, I packed my Kindle Fire. It's the little one that you can hold in one hand. I've got a lot of comics on that thing no matter what my mood. I threw in an old issue of BACK ISSUE magazine I picked up at Comicpalooza last week. These are great magazines that features long articles and interviews about this history of comics and their creators. The latest issue of MEN'S JOURNAL found its way in the bag. And, well, I am a writer so I tossed in the Bluetooth keyboard to link up with my iPhone when I write on the go. Then there was the yellow legal pad with pens.

Hey. I was going to be gone from the house a day.

Now, guess how much I read? Four pages of MEN’S JOURNAL. The rest of the time I was in the hospital bubble be it waiting for the surgery with my mom and sister-in-law or tending to my wife in the immediate hours after recovery. There’s something very pure when it’s just the two of us, alone, no other cares than those in that hospital room, and we just spend time together. Despite the circumstances, I rather enjoyed the time. And I didn’t even miss the reading.

But I packed like I was going away for summer camp. I just can’t help myself.

Surely I'm not the only reader here who packs like this?


(This is the kind of post you get when I'm still recovering from the productive night at the hospital. And by productive I mean the ability to snatch not-enough-sleep in between nurses' visits. More next week.)


1 comment:

Holly West said...

I do the same thing! I'm glad everything went well and your wife has a speedy recovery.