How are you today?
There’s an elderly gentleman I often see when I’m at the health club. We chatted a bit one day while we were on side-by-side treadmills, so now we’re old friends – meaning we smile and say hello whenever we see each other. When I greeted him the other morning and answered his “How are you today?” with “Fine, thanks. And you?” he responded enthusiastically that he was doing great. Then he added, “In fact, I’m fantastic! If I were any [...]
After the Storm
I received a number of responses to last week’s blog, which focused on the people who lost everything in Hurricane Dorian, and on the way the storm put things in perspective for those of us who often get frustrated and annoyed by minor inconveniences. One of my friends, who lives in Florida, said he recently starting working on a way to deal with those minor inconveniences. Whenever he encounters an issue or problem that causes him stress, pain, or discomfort, [...]
A New Perspective
Due to a minor plumbing problem, we were without water in our house for two days last week. It was inconvenient and uncomfortable, especially since we didn’t foresee the need to fill containers or our sink with water ahead of time for drinking or washing. Still, it was indeed a minor issue, and the timing of it kept things very much in perspective. By “timing,” of course, I’m talking about this happening the same week as the catastrophic hurricane that [...]
Sweet Dreams
The night after her funeral, I dreamed about my mother-in-law. She was sitting in a lawn chair in the back yard of the house where I lived till I was ten years old, and she was protecting us from pythons. I have no idea how pythons got into my dream. They’re not normally found in the Chicago area, where we had been for the last two weeks. And I hadn’t seen any movies or news reports lately about python invasions, [...]
A Peaceful Goodbye
“She’s transitioning,” the nurse told us, which was a lot more comforting to hear than, “She’s dying.” “Transitioning” made it sound as if she were simply moving from one phase of life to another, and that’s actually what she was doing. A booklet given to us by the hospice chaplain contained a poem that described dying in terms of a ship sailing away toward the horizon, getting smaller and smaller in our sight, but not in reality. On a far [...]
In the Middle of the Night
One of my favorite annual events was this week – the Perseid Meteor Shower, which shows up every August. And, as always, I set my alarm for the wee hours of the morning in order to watch for the shooting stars it always brings. A bright, full moon made it difficult to see much of anything earlier in the evening, so prime viewing time was much later – closer to the next morning than the night before. For two nights [...]