to all my readers, old and new:
when i posted the eighth chapter back in july, i had really hoped to do my best to push the story in its intended direction with some regularity, at least as well as i could have managed with what will be a very busy fall and winter. i had intended to post chapter nine at the end of august, when unfortunately, mother nature stuck her foot in my ass.
i don't like to give out private information about myself, but i feel in this instance, it will help to explain.
i had discussed a living situation with my wife before we were married and she insisted that we find a place near her parents' home. at first, i tried my best to forestall that outcome, because her inlaws thoroughly irritate me. however, after we got pregnant (now accepting name suggestions for a baby girl!), there was no longer an argument. so back in march we relocated to her hometown of kenner, louisiana, which is a suburb about 20 minutes west of greater new orleans.
voluntary evacuations began on august 30th, and we packed up what we could, including her parents, god help me, and drove non-stop to my cousin's place in austin, texas, even as hurricane gustav made landfall. some of my wife's friends have gone back to louisiana, and the news they talk about isn't all that uplifting. i'm trying to stay as positive as i can, because the last thing i want is to worry her, even though her mother inisists on sabotaging me by advertising her own worries.
at this point i really don't know what to do. i'm driving back in a few days to scout out the damage for myself, especially our home, our neighborhood, and my workplace (really important!). once i assess the situation, we'll make a decision together. she wants, more than anything, to continue her family's tradition of born and bred new orleans women, (you say tradition, i say... coincidence), and nothing would make her happier than to welcome our daughter in her hometown.
conversely, i know her mother thinks i'm being an emotionless neanderthal, but what matters to me is that my wife has a safe birth and that our girl is healthy. if that means delivering anywhere but new orleans, then so be it. this may be selfish of me, but i just wanna be there to hold my daughter, and have her mother hold all of us. what other, more perfect universe could exist outside of that?
anyway, that's my life as it is right now. i don't expect your pity and i don't want it. but what i do want is to plead for your patience and understanding. please consider that i'm faced with a greater set of challenges than i can remember ever encountering in my life. in fact, i consider it a therapeutic break to sit down at a library computer and post this apology; to be honest, it's the change of pace i'm craving.
i will apologize and concede that i have failed to deliver on my promise of an august update. had i known i'd be pulling up stakes and stranded away from my home, i'd have posted it much earlier. it is not my intention to mislead or disillusion any of you, so again, i'm sorry for breaking my word. and i know that at first glance this was an unnecessarily long message. but you know me and detail, right? besides, i think some of you have come to expect longwindednness like this from me...
all jokes aside, thank you so much for keeping up with my story. i really am amazed and unendingly grateful for your patience and your enthusiasm for my story, even with my inexcusable inconsistency. it seems really indulgent, even selfish of me to continually request your patience, and make no mistake, as a writer i am aware of my obligation to you. keeping that in mind, i sincerely hope you can bear with me.
as for a timeline, here's how it goes: if we decide to move back for the birth, i have to devote the rest of the month to catching up with work, tending to her needs, and doing house repairs. i'm told that in a hurricane, damage is a guarantee, the only question is how much. if i work my ass off, both off and on the clock, then maybe i can slow down in early october and focus less on my job. after the (safe, i pray) delivery, my schedule will be out of whack for a few months, and i have been planning for that. i'll find out if those horror stories everybody talks about are true.
what it boils down to is that what's coming is more inconsistency. please keep checking this story. message me, write a review, what ever it takes to keep me writing, because i promise you, it'll be easy for me to find reasons not to. i hate feeling like i have to ask you guys to do stuff for me, but i, more than anyone, wants this story to continue, to finish. i'll do what i can with the limit of my energy to stay the course as well with updates. becoming a father changes your ideas of responsibility and obligation, and, for me at least, this extends to you guys.
know that along with everything else i have to juggle, this tale is also in my thoughts.
know that that means you guys are as well.
again, with abashed repugnance i ask a thousand pardons, and until next time, hopefully soon, i wish you all happy reading.
pock.
p.s.
maybe my sense of correctness is a little old-fashioned, but i hope that at the very least, my american readers will contemplate that today marks the seventh anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. i'm not saying you should pray, cry or even stop at all in your routine today. but i hope that even as you work, you set aside a sliver of a moment to remember. when you commemorate an event that is impossible or even inappropriate to celebrate, i think that remembering is the least that anyone is capable of doing and should be asked to do. i don't know why, but suddenly having tragedy thrust in your life and knowing you have to deal with its consequences sooner rather than later makes you more sensitive of the things you began to forget, as well as more thankful for the things you do remember.
