Good News and Bad News

I always like to hear bad news first.  That way, the good news is like dessert at the end of the meal.  The meal may not have been great, but you have a sweet finish.

So the bad news (for me, at least) was my kids and I sick with the stomach flu.  First my youngest, then my oldest and finally I succumbed.  My in-laws, who I loved immeasurably even before this incident, came to help out.  Needless to say, I was offline for a bit while recovering.

Then, when I came back, I found I had won the Patricia McFarland Memorial Prize from Flash Fiction Chronicles for my short story, "The Maybe Baby."  And another story, "Grandmother Winter," which had won second prize in contest # 22 from On the Premises, was published online while I was gone.  A lot of good news at the end of a bad week.

So I feel that things tend to balance out in the karmic universe.  Maybe it's suffering for my art?  Haha.  I'll never know.  But I'm very thankful to have won these two contests.