Fear Wins This Round

I may have enemies, but if so they have not shown themselves. Except for one, and it's a big one, and so far unconquerable. It's not a being, human or otherwise, but a feeling. It's Fear. As we all know, Fear is quite popular. Most people have cowered beneath it -- or him or her, not sure what pronouns it goes by -- at one time or another. Usually it just makes me uncomfortable in certain situations, like on an airplane, or keeps me from getting a good night's sleep. But this time it has greatly altered plans I was excited about.

My husband and I were to spend a week on Monhegan Island, 12 miles off the coast of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean, at the end of August. We rented a tiny two-room cabin atop the highest point of the island, affording spectacular views and a strenuous hike up and down into town. We were looking forward to it until a friend of mine, who happens to be a medical professional, reminded me that there are no doctors or nurses on the island, in fact no medical care of any kind. What would I do if I felt sick, like when I had my heart attack three years ago, or if my blood pressure spiked in the middle of the night?

I shrugged off her comments, but they invaded my dreams that night and have been rattling around my brain ever since. A little research revealed that A, an artist exactly my age died there of a heart attack two years ago and B, in the event of an emergency a Life Flight helicopter would be summoned and I would be flown to the closest hospital on the mainland. Hey, what fun! (No.)

So Fear won out and I canceled the reservation and instead we are going somewhere equally beautiful on the mainland within a reasonable ambulance drive to a hospital. I'm not proud, but I am relieved. Maybe in my next life I will conquer that particular enemy, but for now I am relatively confident that my next life won't start while I'm on vacation at the end of this month.