WeWriWa - March 27, 2016 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

On last week's installment of Weekend Writing Warriors, we were in the throes of the Emergency Room excitement in Vicenza, Italy when the life of an unborn baby hung in the balance. Welcome to this eight-sentence snippet. To get back to the other Weekend Writers, click here!  

A favorite Italian restaurant, Il Fauno's -- wonderful waitstaff, great food, and
an American toilet!! 

After a quick, burning shot to stop the contractions and a tub of progesterone capsules to insert nightly, we were released. These people who didn’t even speak my language had just saved the life of my unborn child. “What did the doctor say before he left,” I asked our nurse as she walked us to the front doors of the hospital.

The view from the villa where we lived

The view from the other side of the villa

Our Texan kitchen in Italy

Her lips tilted into a half-smile. “He said Americans and their modesty . . . do they not understand that there is no modesty in life and death?”

I locked eyes with my husband and blinked back unwelcome tears 

as I remembered my nurse's words. No modesty in life and death. I 

wish I had asked her if dignity followed the same rule.

Our chilly villa where I was on bed rest for four weeks following the ER incident. 

April 14th -- the rebirth date of my debut novel, A Heart on Hold. Cover reveal time!!! 

WeWriWa - July 18, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods - What's Next for Charlie and Sara?

Welcome back to the Weekend Writing Warriors bloghop and this week's eight to ten sentence snippet from a published, pre-published, or work-in-progress (or WIP). We are making our way through the first chapter of my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. 

Last week, Charlie confessed that he'd been tossed out of the Army shrink's office for being honest and telling the psychiatrist exactly what he was thinking . . . scroll down and check out the last couple of entries for that little gem . . . and what earned him an MP escort out of that office, along with an invitation NOT to return.  Let's see what happens next. 


He chuckled again as my grim expression transformed to a half-smile. Without meaning to, I let go a little laugh, followed by a bigger one. Before either one of us could make sense of the sudden onslaught of jocularity, it was there, just as real as either of us and filling the car with much needed comic relief. Tears streamed down our faces as we gasped for breath before becoming tickled all over again at our cacophony of funny whoopings and whistlings and snorts.

As our laughing jag faded away, Charlie started our car – a pink and purple Volkswagen Golf, Pink Floyd Edition – as the stark reality of our situation settled over me like a cloud of buzzards over a rotting carcass. Here I was in Italy, pregnant, so far from home, and with my two precious babies to protect. I had a husband, fresh from combat and already exhibiting irrational, self-medicating behavior, who had just managed to get himself blacklisted from the only psychiatrist within reasonable driving distance. Just. By. Being. Honest. 

Thank you for stopping by for this week's snippet of military madness. To get back to the other WeWriWa bloghop participants, follow this link. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to pop over to my Amish blog, Sara's Amish Dreams, for a cover reveal!