From the viewpoint I offer up right now at this very moment, what's going to be happening in approximately three hours looms large over the horizon.  It is filled with a great deal of foreboding and anxious anticipation, a massive event that appears to have the capacity to Change Lives.  Probably from the viewpoint of looking back upon this day a year or so from now, it will all seem to be merely a blip on the life radar, a dot on the appointment calendar, something to list in the roundup of life's statistics.  But at the very moment just a few short hours before It Actually Happens, it seems like the most important event to happen to me yet.

Even though I've gone through similar before in the past, this is the first time I've come to the table with expectations that I hope are not going to be too high.  I fully expect to spend just 48 hours waylaid by what will happen today -- well, maybe a few hours over 48.  Anything more than that and I will begin to worry.  Other instances, I had the occasion to spend weeks recovering fully, waiting to heal and enjoying my time doing little else.  (Though some things were a little tricky, e.g. taking showers.)  But today I am hoping to come out of everything not needing or feeling the need to recover in such a fashion.  Add to that the frustration of having to deal with an overdramatic mother, who is to be my escort for the day (the hospital demanded at least one), and you might be able to see how tensions are just a little bit high.

At the present moment, I am sitting in comparative calm, letting only the light from the computer monitor illuminate the room.  I plan on trying to squirrel away just enough time post-entry to scan through a page or two of distraction reading online, just to keep my mind preoccupied and distracted.  Then will come the inevitable ride over and the ensuing drama of a day that promises to be anything but ordinary.  Hopefully tonight will see me in relatively good spirits, but we shall see about that.  I will update you as soon as I can, hopefully no later than tomorrow night.

What else do I have to say about this?  Nothing much.  Just the feeling of finality here, the closing up of thoughts already expressed.  For what else can one convey in such a moment?  For now there is only hope and fear and worry and excitement.  The rest will come as the day passes into night.