The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

After three years of not being on an airplane due to COVID concerns, we decided to take a winter break. I should have chosen my words more carefully. Friends ask me how was my trip to Florida. A better question would be about my trip in Florida. It wasn’t pretty.

Out walking with my husband, Jim, and friend Rich, I tripped and landed face first on the sidewalk. Won’t bore you with the gory details. The sidewalk looked like a crime scene.

Reassuringly, 911 was there in minutes; the paramedics were wonderful. Six stitches above my eye were the least of it. I have six broken ribs, two of which have double breaks. Half our brief vacation was spent in the hospital. Heavy-duty drugs the past week have scarcely made a dent in the pain (unfortunate expression).

Which brings me to the point of sharing all this. I’m taking a break from my blog, for the first time in 13 years. I have no doubt that the issues that drive me to write will be there when I return.

I’m grateful that what could have been a life-altering event is merely a life-interrupting event. I’m appreciative of the excellent care I received at the Cleveland Clinic in Stuart, Florida. And I’ll be forever grateful for the support of our hosts in Florida, Susan Wornick and her wonderful husband, Rich Reynolds, who, but for their generosity and love, would surely have viewed us as the house guests from hell. Thanks, too, to friend Emily Rooney, who was on the scene to provide moral support and encouragement. There are no nouns, verbs or adjectives that adequately express my love and enduring gratitude for my husband. I am blessed.

I have always written about how life can change on a dime. As one grows more “mature,” the odds are increasingly eye-opening. So, to all my friends who have passed middle age, it’s not just a question of carpe diem. It’s a matter of carpe minutem.

Until I write again, cheers to all of you. Take care.