Was it the knitting? Was it the Hail Marys? What does it take to get through a visit to the emergency room?

Probably both are what it takes to get calmly, almost meditatively, through a trip to the emergency room when you are afraid that your husband has an appendix that is about to burst. (Turns out it was a kidney stone ... excruciating pain but no imminent loss to life ... and it buys you a couple of hits of morphine to book. Poor fellow now has a prescription for Vicodin and can look forward to some more rounds of pain while waiting for it to all pass away. Get it? Pass ... well, never mind.)

I remember reading a knitter's account of being in either New York or Washington D.C. when Sept. 11 happened. She was stranded at the train station for hours and was thankful to have an unfinished sock to knit in her purse. It gave her something to do without disconnecting her from the people around her ... and kept her calm.

That has always been in the back of my mind for some reason. So when Tom gave me my Peacock Blue Newport Knitting Bag for Christmas I started carrying around the latest unfinished sock. The other day I asked myself why I was doing that when clearly I rarely had time to knit while I was out and about.

Yesterday afternoon was my answer. After the pain levels had been reduced to a dull roar by the morphine, I pulled out my knitting and luckily was just working on the heel (which for non-knitters means that it was fairly brainless and could be shoved back into the bag at a second's notice without losing my place). We were there from about 1:30 until after 6:00 during which time there were many dull periods of waiting around. I managed to turn the heel and am now working on the gussets to shape the foot.

As for the Hail Marys, those never stopped until the doctor came in and confirmed the triage nurse's first "probably a kidney stone" comment. It is very comforting to know that while you are knitting, you are also streaming prayer for Mary and other saints who pop to mind to pray with you ... not only for your loved one but also for those other frightened and hurting souls that you can see everywhere. As well as those kind, trained ones who are there to help. Once again, I am happy to be Catholic.