Last Minute

I hate last minute people. I am a do it on time person. Last minute people turn every chore into a frenzy. Do it on time people do things in a relaxed way. When a  last minute person has to team up with a do it on time person, things turn ugly. That is what happened to me yesterday. I am in work each day for seven hours. I accomplish everything that needs to be done within those seven hours. If you run in, one minute before it is time for me to go home and throw a project at me, I will not stay late and help you. If you get annoyed, I will ignore you. If you give in once to a last minute person, you will be giving in forever. I like to nip things in the bud. Do it on time or do it alone.

Out Of My Way

I have learned never to go out of my way for someon at work. I am not talking about my coworkers. I am talking about the patients. When I first started working at my office and I received  frantic calls from patients demanding an immediate appointment, I would rearrange schedules and sometimes call the doctors to see if they would come in early or stay late. After everything was set, the patient would either cancel at the last minute or not even show up. Yesterday, I had a call from a potential new patient. She was crying and screaming that she needed to come here today. I explained all of the fees and told her that the best I could do was have her seen the next day. She carried on a bit more and I checked 10 doctors schedules and decided to put her in for the last appointment of the day. I never asked the doctor because I had a feeling the woman would not show up. She thanked me for making the appointment for her and said she would see me later. Just as I thought, one hour later she called to cancel.

One Year

It has been one year since Superstorm Sandy. Everyone on the east coast can tell you where they were when their lights went out. We counted our lives by the days we had no electricity. Seven, ten, fourteen. Some of us were inconvenienced and some of us were devastated. I know of people that are still not back in their homes. Sandy taught us all a few lessons. First, when we are warned of danger, we must take it seriously. Second, that things are not as important as family. Third, that we are resilient and can rebound from almost anything. These were not easy lessons to learn and we will never feel the same security we had once felt when we hear the word "hurricane".

Eat, Eat, Eat

Eat, eat, eat. That is all I did all weekend long. I got up this morning and feel like a lump of clay. The thought of breakfast is not a good one, so I will not eat anything until my stomach growls. As if I did not eat enough Saturday night at a Sweet Sixteen, I went to a Mediterranean buffet on Sunday. What was I thinking? Am I Wonder Woman? I am over 55 and my intestines are not as supple as they were when I was 20. As I was pushing in the last bite of my fourth baklava at the buffet, I realized that food can be pleasurable or painful. Saturday it was pleasurable. Sunday afternoon it became painful. This morning it is just sad.

Through It All

Last night I went to my third cousin's Sweet Sixteen. It was at a beautiful catering hall overlooking the water in Howard Beach. The guests were dressed in party attire and the girls wore shoes so high, that they were wobbling. When the party began they introduced the "Dias". There were 6 bridesmaids type looking girls all wearing white. They were the six best friends out of a group of 100. The music was great and the dance floor was packed. The food choices were very tasty and the Viennese table was the best. Any place that serves cotton candy wins me over. When it came time for the candle lighting ceremony, the birthday girl said a bit about each person. For each "best" friend, she listed a ton of memories that they had shared. She ended each mini speech with the line, "We have been through it all together". All? How much could there have been to go through by 16? You haven't graduated high school or worried about getting ino college. You haven't graduated college and had to worry about finding a job. You haven't dated or married. You haven't had the pleasure of raising children and being called the bad parent if you have to say "no" to anything. You haven't paid bills or a mortgage. I guess her "all" is a sixteen year "all". I wish I could remember back to when I was 16, and thought I went through it all.

Smooth Sale-ing

I am up, dressed and ready to go. We displayed all of our tag sale items last night and even had two early birds fly by. We are not selling your typical garage sale items. There will be no soccer shoes or old clothes. We are selling memories in the form of old tools and vintage memorabilia. There is a certain type of person that buys these items. They are buying more as a collectable than as a useful item. They buy more with their hearts than their heads. Sometimes I feel that it is just an equilateral transfer of junk. So, I hope it goes well and I bring less back into my house than I brought out.

Set Up

Today I will be setting up for tomorrow's antique sale. Everything that went down to the basement will come back up again. The items will be cleaned and grouped into categories and displayed in the best possible way. There is so much to display. We placed an ad in the local paper and hope buyers come. It is not a garage sale in the typical sense of the word because we are selling antique and vintage items. It is a big preparation and I hope we do well. If not, I will have to bring everything back into my house and call dealers.