Several years ago. . . Who am I kidding? Many years ago I had an occasion to be piloting a small ship on upper Chesapeake Bay. It was a late winter night but the weather was clear and calm. We were making good course and speed. The radar picture could have been an overlay of the nautical chart. All targets were identified. I knew where I was and what I was doing - and then I didn't. Just that quickly and for no particular reason it all went away. I could have been standing on the moon. We called it "losing the bubble" and it is a really scary thing. What I remember most was that I was frozen. I knew what had happened and thought of several things to do, but could not make a decision. I could not even tell those on the bridge with me. I just stared out the bridge window while panic knocked at my psyche like the wolf at the door.
In the end, I stopped the ship right there in the middle of Chesapeake Bay and, card by card, rebuilt that fragile house.
Well, it's happened again - in a writing sense. So I'm going to stop the (penman)ship. Sorry. I'm going to stop the ship and start from scratch (or scribble.) It may be a while before I blog again. I hope you understand. Thank you.