Visiting Nurse

Today is Passover. I am on my way to Brooklyn. My parents cannot come to the sedar that will be held at my sister-in-law's house this evening. It is just too much for them to travel there. Yesterday I spent the day cooking so I could bring a Passover meal to them. I made matzo ball soup, roasted potatoes and chicken. The food basket also has gefilte fish, horseradish, matzo, string beans and cake. For lunch I made tuna fish. They certainly have enough food for dinner without me bringing it, but the thought of them not eating a traditional Passover dinner bothered me.

Levels of Esteem

The words we use conjure up a level of importance in our minds. You can take four equal things and call them by different names and they will send out a different vibe. For example the places we dine at. If there were four establishments that served Italian Seafood. They were owned by a person named Tom. All have the same menu but the prices vary. One was named Tom's Seafood Shack. One was named Tom's Cafe. The third was named Tom's Restaurant and the last was named Ristorante Thomas. Which one could command a higher menu price? Which one would you think is near the shore. Which one would have small tables with iron back chairs? Which one is generic? Branding and marketing are instilled in our brains without us even realizing it.

The Unwritten Book

There is an unwritten book of life's rules. As much as we all feel that we are independent thinkers, we all know that there are certain rules in life that need to be adhered to. They do not need to be put on paper. They are ingrained in our minds from early childhood. One chapter is "Right or Wrong". Even the most horrible people know when they are doing something wrong. A thief knows that he is stealing and a liar knows he has lied. They do it anyway but they are well aware that they are breaking the rules as they do it. Just being human means that we have a manual inside our brain. Some people read it before they act. Other people gloss over it. Then there are the people that feel that reading it is only a waste of time. Those are the people that I try to avoid.

Calendar

I no longer count time by the date. I count time by the appointments that I need to be at. The days of the week no longer have names. They have responsibilities. This week it will be "doctor, nurse, half day, eye appointment, Passover". Last week it was "doctor, tree removal, snow day". I no longer know the date. I only know the sequence of where I need to be.

Another Shrimp

Sometimes life just places another shrimp on your Bar-B. Just when you have enough to do, along comes another issue. I have been progressively losing eyesight in one eye. It is the reading eye. Since I have monovision sight, one eye reads and the other sees distance. The reading eye is on 5% power and the vision eye is on 85%. I am glad it was not the other way around. When I finally realized how bad things were, I went to the eye doctor. I am writing this blog but cannot see a word of it on the screen. After many tests, the doctor informed me that I will need a procedure done to each eye to clear the vision back to normal. I was so relieved to hear that. Next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that, I will go to the surgical center and have my eyes lasered. I wish it was tomorrow.

Trial Run

I always believed in trial runs. I never leave anything to chance. If something is important and has to be done on a deadline, it needs to be tested prior to the actual date. I did this yesterday. We had a stairlift installed on the outside of my parent's house to make it easier for my mother to get down the steps. She has a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I wanted to do a trial run since the chair has never been used before. At first no one knew how to operate the chair. My husband and dad were fidgeting around with it to no avail. I got the instruction book and figured out that there was a ten second delay. Once we knew that, the chair worked well. I did not want to leave it at that. I got my mother's coat on her and walked her to the chair, sat her in it and took her for a ride down the steps. It was easy as pie. Now I know that on Tuesday things will work well.

Forty Years

In a blink of an eye forty years has past. Today is my sister's 40th wedding anniversary. I remember the day as if it was yesterday.I can vividly recall the smell of the flowers and the variety of the foods that were served. If I close my eyes, I can see the guests milling around in the entrance hallway before the cocktail hour. In those days the cocktail hour was first, then the ceremony, then the dinner. It made sense to eat, rest eat. Nowadays the ceremony comes first then the cocktail hour and then a big meal. I never understood why the sequence was changed. I cannot believe that time has flown so quickly.