Today’s horoscope:

You are often preoccupied by other people’s lives, and your devotion to others will no doubt be appreciated today. For example, in the family circle, you are likely to be asked to bandage and heal everyone’s little wounds, be they physical or psychological. But don’t neglect your own energy needs today. As you are no doubt aware, the future is approaching quickly and you will need all the strength you can muster.

Sometimes astrology can be kind of freaky. After I dropped Moon off at school, I headed to Rockford so that I could sit with my dad during my mom’s surgery. She had just found out about it on Thursday, so it didn’t have much time to sink in. For any of us.

I hadn’t set foot in that hospital for (ulp!) 20 years, and I was shocked by how much it had changed. It was so … modern. There was even free valet parking. My parents actually arrived around 7:15, although the surgery itself wasn’t scheduled until 10:30. I made it there by 10, so I was able to talk with my mom before she went under.

I kept my dad company as we waited, and I was very glad to be there for the consultation with the surgeon afterwards. They found cancer in one of the lymph nodes, so the surgery was a little more involved than we had anticipated. The full pathology report will be available tomorrow.

I’m still a little in shock (and a lot exhausted), but really, the whole thing went pretty smoothly. We all left the hospital at about 4:30. Now my mom is home eating ice cream with strawberries, and I know my dad is doing a good job tending to her.

Oh, while we were sitting with my mom in the recovery room, my cell phone rang. It was Peter: “Can you come and pick me up from school?”

“It might take a while, since I’m 60 miles away.” Fortunately, Moon was getting a ride home from our neighbor who had the day off. I told Peter to hang loose for five minutes while I called to see if she’d be able to rescue him. It all worked out.