Eighty Eight and Still Going Strong

Today is my father's eighty eighth birthday. He looks great for his age and can still do the things he did when he was sixty eight. He is by far, the smartest person I know. It amazes me how someone can be so well versed on any subject. He can fix plumbing, do electrical work, solder jewelry, make eyeglasses, tell jokes and still have the strength to drive 300 miles in one day. If you need advice, just ask Daddy. He is always right on target and if you do as he suggests, you will never go wrong. There is an expression "to know me is to love me". That sums up my father. Everywhere he goes, he makes friends. He is just that type of person. I thank god every day for having him as my father. I see his wisdom in my children and I am glad they inherited such wonderful genes. Happy Birthday Daddy!!

The Wave

I do not ask for much in life but there are certain gestures that I think are required. One of them is "The Wave". I try to be a considerate driver. If I see someone trying to merge into my lane or pull out from a driveway, I always yield the right of way. I know the feeling of sitting in line and no one letting you in. But there is only one catch. When I let you in, after a dozen people have shut you out, I expect an acknowledgement. One simple gesture that I have named "The Wave". I am not asking for much. Just a small lift of your hand. You don't even have to move it back or forth. But you have to give me something. Your way of saying thanks for letting me in after other people wouldn't budge an inch. I deserve that much. When I get the wave, I always wave back, as if to say "you are welcome". When I do not get my wave, I become annoyed. It shows me that you are the kind of person that expects something for nothing. 

Accidents Will Happen

Sometimes accidents happen. We have to learn to separate our emotions from our intellect when they do. Today, the cable company came to install telephone, internet and television service, in my son's home. A very nice woman arrived, right on time, and said the job would be no problem. Midway through the morning she realized that she had to go into the attic to attach wires. She was a large stature woman and going through a closet opening would not be easy. Picture Santa Claus going down the chimney. She shimmied up the passage way and within 3 minutes yelled, "Sir, I have a problem". My son ran to the bedroom and saw a foot through the ceiling. I thought he would faint. He has spent the last five months pouring his heart and soul into making everything perfect. After the installer spent about 5 minutes in the attic crying she came down and proceeded to cry on the front lawn.We called the cable company inspector and he arrived within an hour. He advised my son to have the ceiling fixed and submit the bill for reimbursement. The woman installer continued to hook up the rest of the services. When she was done I walked her to the door and gave her a $20 tip. She asked "How can I take this. I ruined your ceiling? "I told her that just because an accident happened, does not mean she did not work hard. She cried again as she took the tip and left. Accidents happen. Our attitude reflects how we handle them.

Going To Extremes

I just saw a preview for the upcoming series Extreme Couponing. The show aired last season and got fairly high reviews. People all over the country started to save coupons in the hopes of going to the supermarket, filling a cart with $700 worth of goods and only paying $1.28. There is only one thing wrong with this show. If you look closely into it, it is a show about hoarding and OCD. It is not a show about common sense and good shopping skills. One woman bought out all of the diapers a store had. The only problem was that she had no children. One woman's shopping cart was filled with 100 chocolate bars and 72 deodorants. Try to make a family dinner with those ingredients. If you look carefully into most of the extreme coupon shopping carts, they are buying products without any sense of their use. From a psychological point of view, these people are not just extreme couponers, they are just extreme people.

A Day Of Rest

In most religions there is a Sabbath. A day of rest. A time to just sit and reflect upon what the previous week was and what the future week will bring. I cannot remember when I actually had a day of rest. I know that my calendar has 2 days set aside that are supposed to be "me" days. The problem is, that I just need to find "me". Somehow I have morphed into many people. My sister always jokes around with me and says that one day someone will take a picture of me and it will come out with 5 additional heads sitting on my shoulders. Just as I cannot seem to find a sabbath day, I can lo longer seem to find a separate me. But I am trying. Really, I am. I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. It started with a AAA battery and is slowing getting up to a D size. So, it is Sunday. And I am not resting, just as I did not rest on Saturday. But, I am getting there. I can just feel it.

Opt Out

From now on, when someone asks me for something, I will never say no. Instead, I will choose to "opt out".  It is a professional way of saying that I have no desire to do what you want, but I will say it in the most discreet way. Insurance companies coined this phrase a few years ago, when they decided to lower your benefits. It would not have been nice for them to tell you, that even though you are sick and have paid them your life savings in premiums, they do not want to pay your claim. The only problem, was that they slid that option into your policy, without you even realizing it. All that private companies saw when they renegotiated their health care plans, was a lower premium. No one looked closely enough into it to see that they chose the "opt out" plan. Mental healthcare was the benefit that was involved. When the country introduced Parity, the insurance companies needed to find a way around it. Parity means that mental illness is equal to physical illness. There would be no limit on coverage. Insurance companies offered a lower payment in exchange for you signing off on parity. It breaks my heart when I have to deliver this bad news to a patient. It hurt the most, the other day,when the man who's child was sick, was the one who signed the opt out rider for his company. He just had no idea......

Global Warming

The world is changing. So am I. Global warming is changing the Earths' atmosphere. Menopause is changing my atmosphere. I never understood when women talked about hot flashes and sweating. I noticed a change when I started to ask my co-workers "is it hot in here, or is it me". I no longer ask that question. I know the answer. It is me. It feels like I have a furnace in my stomach and someone is throwing logs onto the fire. The heat comes from within. It is different from feeling warm on a 90 degree day. That heat comes from the outside. Thankfully, I am not at the stage where my head sweats and makes my hair wet. That would be very unpleasant, not to mention ugly. I always wanted people to say I was "hot". Unfortunately, now I can say it.