Processing vegetables had to wait this is why …

Home canning, or processing, is a hobby I began three years ago. Now that gardens are finished, I have a few last batches of vegetables and apples to deal with. But today they had to wait.

I got up early for a Saturday. I intended to knock out the last of the green beans and tackle most, if not all of the apples. Since we finished stringing the beans last night, all I had to do was boil for 10 minutes, jar them up, and process. I set the timer for 25 minutes and started picking up the living room and running the vacuum.

We finished stringing the beans last night.

The small room doesn’t take long to clean. In the silence that comes once the vacuum is off I heard the ringing of my phone. It was Mom.

“Are you busy?” the raspy, strained voice asked.

“Just running the sweeper. Why”

“I need you to take me to the emergency room.”

It has been a good long while since we had an ER run. This one lasted six hours. Mom was released with a diagnosis of a respiratory virus and sinus drainage and a couple prescriptions.