Here’s a pro tip, one of many from my encounters with the health care system this year: When you have an appointment with a specialist, take a cooler. Not to offer the doctor a beer. Not to carry a spare heart for transplant. Though you might find both of those useful, too. No, bring a … read more The cooler people
Category: Refraction
How a wave changes direction. Life changes, creating change and recovery from change
Empty boxes
Tom quit smoking on my birthday. He didn’t actually start the day intending to do that. It just happened. When you are hospitalized with a stroke, they don’t let you light up in bed, oddly enough. So that took care of the first month of quitting. What surprised him was that he had no nicotine … read more Empty boxes
Kickin’ it
I didn’t know what to wear. Tina said exercise pants below the knee, a T-shirt, tennis shoes. I don’t have any exercise pants that aren’t shorts or full-length. I don’t have “tennis shoes,” only running shoes. My T-shirts are in storage boxes or else are abominable rags. After a lot of contemplation, I chose stretchy … read more Kickin’ it
The distance I feel
I used to love to talk to my sisters on the phone. We’d talk for hours. There was never enough time to talk to my sisters as much as I wanted to. I’ve got old friends who I used to talk with that way, too. Hours. Today, I talked to one of them. I squeezed it in … read more The distance I feel
Law-abiding but oblivious
What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing, from a legal standpoint. There’s a handicapped parking space, and the non-handicapped driver has parked in the adjoining space. However, that adjoining space is where the cutaway sidewalk and ramp come up from the parking area. By parking there, this person has completely cut off access to the pool … read more Law-abiding but oblivious
Packing it IN
Tom, the stroke-bound slacker, sits in the recliner while I’m carrying 40-pound boxes from basement to main to loft and finding a place for the pots and pans in the pantry and texting the packout crew to ask where our pillows are. He wants me to stop and look at cat videos on Facebook. Spouses … read more Packing it IN
Seven pairs of pants
Since I’ve lost 25 pounds, all but a few pairs of pants are now too big for me. So I still look fat, wearing all these baggy clothes. I hate shopping, though, especially clothes shopping. And ESPECIALLY pants shopping. Because you have to try on soooooo many pairs to find pants that fit right and that aren’t … read more Seven pairs of pants
What the tree has wrought
The tree is off the roof. Now what?
Fill in the blank
Because Tom can’t write much yet, I’m filling out his medical forms. It’s bad enough doing these stupid pieces of paper for myself; doing them for someone else is a real pain in the arse. First of all: Why the hell are these forms still on PAPER? The big advance for medical offices has been … read more Fill in the blank
Just another morning
[Thursday Aug. 11] Today, Dad would have been 96 years old. I begged him to help me get through the day. It’s been a week since the tree fell on our house, and six days since Tom got out of rehab. The days are too long, and not long enough. I usually wake up at … read more Just another morning