So... Jess has been seriously, violently ill for most of a week, now. And Penny threw up at daycare yesterday. Just once, and they didn't send her home, but Matt and I are kind of walking around on pins and needles about it.

So I guess our trip down to visit K.T. and Kevin and take the babies to the Children's Museum is going to be postponed, because even if both of them are dramatically improved today, they've still got immune systems that are already working overtime, and which don't need to be exposed to each others' germs. Not to mention the germs of a hundred and forty-seven other little kids at the museum.

The best laid plans...

Penny's got her 18-month checkup this morning. This is the first of her regular checkups that both Matt and I haven't been there for. But since I was home with her all day on Tuesday after her surgery, and there's a chance that she's going to get sick and have to stay home some more, I figured I should go to work.

So, like the Mom that I am, I'm waiting anxiously for the news and metrics report from Matt.

I had a great writing day yesterday - a good 1300 words! I think it helps that I'm so close to finishing that I can practically taste it (whatever it is that finishing a novel tastes like). It also helps that I have a rough idea of how I want the end to go. I've been struggling with the ending since this first evolved from a character exercise into a novel.

See, because of the way the novel came about, it's not really an adventure story, or a mystery, though there are elements of both of those. It's about the main character's growth as a person. He's forced to face certain truths, internal and external, and he has to rebuild himself around them.

Growth and change are painful processes, even if they turn out for the best. The happy ending would just be too corny, on top of that much pain. Too convenient. Too easy. It would've rendered the character's changes pointless.

The tragic ending would be meaningless. Why put the character through so much, and then refuse him all reward for his effort? I'm not a nihilist, and I'm not that kind of writer.

So what I've got is a sad ending, but one spiced with the possibility of happiness to come. I like those. I just hope I get the mix right.

--Liz