Paging Dr. Kildare...

So I needed to go in for a little medical procedure – nothing serious. I’ve actually had this procedure done once before; it is like a dental/oral surgery thing. Since I have had this done I was thinking back on how painful the recovery was and I vaguely remember my husband had something to do with that. It seems there was some event that caused him to be rather late from the pharmacy with the pain medication. Then I began to think of the many times I have had various medical procedures done and how each time there was some complication with the care I had gotten at the hands of Matt.

To know my husband is to love him. He really is the nicest guy you will ever meet. So as I write this I really don’t believe that this could be his sort of twisted way of venting any remote hostilities toward me. I don’t think he has any – he’s a pretty easygoing fellow. But as I tally the events of pain killer misadventures and after medical care mishaps I do get to wonder. Maybe this is some secret death wish…. Who can really be that nice all the time anyway? Just for amusement I will list a few episodes here.

After the birth of our first baby my temperature rose to 105 – Matt had to finish his watermelon before going to the pharmacy to get medication. Matt really loves watermelon – I don’t think he knew how sick I was.

Pulled Intercostal Muscle: Since it was so early in the am Matt felt a heating pad would be best before taking me to the walk-in clinic. Once in the doctor’s office she asked if she was seeing me for the strange squiggly burn marks on my back or was there some other problem we had come about.

Bunion surgery: Matt really wanted to impress me with his new and improved medical attentiveness and pledged to take perfect care of his patient, except he did not read the label clearly and gave me twice the dose of pain killer and I passed out. I slept for a very long time.

First endodontic (oral surgery) procedure: The doctor warned Matt that when the anesthetic wore off the pain would be very intense so he was on his way to the pharmacy but ----- he chanced upon a Persian woman in the medical building that was not so fluent in English and she needed a ride home and was trying to get a taxi, Matt gave her a lift and then it took forever to get the prescription filled. That was super painful.

Torn Lumbar Muscle: Oh this is my favorite! First Matt proceeded to drag me down the hall by my leg and then he tried to push my knees to my chest insisting that I only needed some stretching. Then at the request of the nurse over the phone he tried to feed me some blueberry muffin so the paramedics could give me some Vicodin, but he found the muffin pretty tasty and ate ¾ of it himself and the rest ended up in my hair or up my nose!

This is the itchy and scratchy show at its most loveable! I know a sane person would schedule medical procedures when he is out of town but I love him. If I feel sick or under the weather it is him I seem to want to be with. Don’t ask me why. Don’t get me wrong he is not like Kathy Bates in Misery this is all just some sort of mishap, really it is. So when the doctor told me that I needed to have this little oral surgery thing I asked if I could get the pain killer prescription up front. I went to the market and got everything I would need. Matt called and told me not to worry that he would take good care of me. I said sure – why not?

UPDATE: I had the surgery and after 23 years of marriage I can honestly tell you – he is getting good! All went well.

A Marriage of Christmas Décor...

Christmas décor is an extremely personal thing. The traditions of holiday décor are often passed down from family to family. People get really opinionated about everything from what type of trees to get to the method of decorating the trees. Some decorate large full trees in a specific monochromatic color scheme with flocking and others delicately fill sparse pine branches with years of elementary school holiday art projects as a sentimental tribute to the children of the home.

I try to just flow with it but I would have to confess that I am sort of a Ballard catalog girl when it comes to holiday décor. I like it elegant but not over the top. The banister is decked with greenery, pine cones and lights. The poinsettias are nestled in their urns gracing the front entry and the mantle is set with soft pine boughs, red berries and elegant golden NOEL letters that hold rich velvet stockings waiting to be filled.

So you might imagine my surprise at finding the “Four Color Fiber Optic Christmas Village” conspicuously perched in my shopping cart one Sunday afternoon while shopping Target with Matt. Now, at the risk of sounding snobbish, this Village is not to be confused with anything remotely like a Department 56 Christmas Village item. It is a little more home spun than that. This is clearly not in my holiday décor road map. It is by all means a detour of taste. However, what makes the FCFOCV so fascinating is that my husband desperately wanted it and the look on his face as he said “I’m getting this”, as though he were some character straight out of Napoleon Dynamite, was so sweet – no one could have resisted.

My husband is extremely careful with his spending habits and he could probably open his very own diamond mine with a bag of charcoal briquettes – if you know what I mean. So the fact that he was helplessly taken by the FCFOCV is quite simply what I adore about him. Matt can preach to you about mutual funds, the advantages of maximizing your 401k, joys of equity, and the intricacies of compound interest, but it only took one captivating look at the Four Color Fiber Optic Christmas Village to soften his heart, proving that there is a Christmas spirit in every one of us.

This weekend I proudly made a space in the family room to display his coveted little find. I found some pinecone studded trees to display behind the little Village and plugged it in. Now every night it glows changing colors from red, green, gold and purple. My husband is happy and I love him to pieces!

California On Fire!

First off I need to say that I am grateful and thankful for all that I have and for the fact that we are not directly in harms way and that we have not lost our home. Not everyone here can say that. With more than a half million people evacuated, over 300,000 acres burning out of control and over 700 homes burned as of this morning, we are lucky to be in one of the safer areas of San Diego. We are also fortunate to have such a wonderful fire crew that works so tirelessly. We have had the help of so many volunteer crews and crews from other cities as well.

From my home, which sits a top a hill I have the vantage point to see quite vividly the ridgelines of the Fallbrook “Rice” fire and the newest Camp Pendleton Fires burn. We did not go into work Tuesday as the Mayor asked everyone to try to stay home and to stay off their cell phones. The sky here is burnt orange and very thick with smoke. We kept the windows closed yesterday so we would not breathe in as much smoke. Visibility was very murky. It is very surreal and strange here right now. Taking the train in this morning I noticed so many RV’s parked at the beach, their horses tied to the rigs.

Monday night was Bijan’s birthday and we went to the Carlsbad High which had been set up as an evacuation center and dropped off blankets, pillows and playing cards for those who needed to stay there. I have heard this said so many times but it really is true, “San Diego is the largest small town you will ever find”. When we pulled up to the school there were people from all over just stopping by to drop off things and help out. We pulled up to ask what was needed and when we came back with our donations there were even more people coming up asking what they could do. Yesterday I called a friend of mine who was collecting donations from the hotels in town to drop off. I hope I don’t sound corny but San Diego really takes care of its own and those who can respond, respond generously.

Please say prayers, keep positive thoughts and do a rain dance or two for California.

The Red Badge of Courage Part 3

It may seem as though I have forgotten all about the journey that I set out on – I have not. I have spent some time exploring, gaining lots of ground and sometimes coming back upon familiar territory.

In conversations with my sister I have referred to personal issues as something like a passenger in the back seat of the car. There was a Twilight Zone episode in which a woman picks up a hitchhiker and she keeps seeing him in the backseat of the car even though she let him off miles before. Of course he turns out to be the angel of death or some spooky thing like that. Life’s issues are like the hitchhiker. You may think they got out a while back but they still show up in the rear view mirror and when you look over your shoulder, sure enough they are sitting there staring you right in the face.

Courage is the high road that must be chosen when dealing with these types of clingy passengers. It is amazing how long I can just drive and drive and not look in the rear view mirror. I know that I ought to check all the mirrors in my vehicle from time to time, but I don’t. Often that simple minded barreling down the highway is intentional. Sometimes I just drive like a bat out of hell! It takes courage to look in the rear view mirror; it takes courage to choose to actually see. In that gaze I see not only who is in the back seat (making themselves comfy) but I see all the terrain I have left behind.

I have been in the process of trying to get to know these pesky little hitchhikers, who are they and what do they want? (Sometimes I’ve got to stare fear in the face and just look at what I don’t like about myself or my life.) If I am to have traveling buddies I want to get to know them a little better. I can not say they are interested in me the same way, on the contrary, I find they expect the same old fearful reactions from me. These stowaways expect me to be startled and runaway from the pressure of uncovering what I want from this journey. To consistently move past limitations and define my life on my own terms is not the trip my passengers thought we were taking.

I have had to take a few u-turns and detours on this route, but I am still in the driver’s seat. I am determined to reach my destination and the road is getting straighter and the pathway clearer everyday.

I love the creativity of these questions – Where do you want to go today? What do you want to create? How do you want to live? Who do you want to touch? What do you want to give?

Happy trails to you…

Yes, but can he sing?

Hmmm... this looks interesting. Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. But can the man sing? If you know Sweeney, you need that strong, menacing, out of your brain sort of tone for Sweeney. I am having some trouble hearing it in my head from Johnny, but I am willing to be open minded. It might be good even if he can't sing - we could turn the sound down and just watch Johhny Depp prance around in that waist coat and those tight pants. Although that doesn't work in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - no, not at all. But alas he was extremely fine in Chocolat the film set in the little French Village with Juliette Binoche. What wasn't fine in that film? I like Tim Burton and I think he is artistic, let's hope this works out.

Great Beer and Exquisite Cheese in Amsterdam

Well, I knew I’d find that. I took every opportunity to splurge on beer and cheese. What I did not know about Amsterdam was the popularity of bicycles. Everyone rides a bike. There were some cars but most people, even the pregnant mommies with only a week or so left to term, were on their bikes. New born babies were strapped to their parents’ chests and their little heads were sprinkled with rain drops. Toddlers were loaded into little wooden carts affixed to the front of the bikes and off they rode.

Our hotel was on this Canal and in a nice, not - so - touristy area. We had lovely accommodations. I did not see the red light district that everyone talks about but I was only there for a few days. When you go to the Dam Square shopping area it is really touristy and there were some sex toy type of shops with risqué toys in the windows right across from the McDonalds. I thought the Pot shops were funny. Bijan went into one to get some T-shirts for his buddies and they handed him a menu for pot. Since he was shopping with Matt it was unlikely that he would buy anything more than t-shirts. I knew from my research that they had public urinals right there in the street. The men can just walk behind a small metal screen and go. That was interesting.

I finally got to see the Girl with Pearl Earring; she creeps upon you in a room in the Mauritshuis Museum. Unpretentiously, this famous work of art just sort of waits for you to turn around and discover her, and it was all that I thought it would be – beautiful! I was really surprised to find the View of Delft, also by Vermeer, to be another favorite. It was much more impressive in person.

Amsterdam was bustling with small cars, bikes, canal boats and sidewalk cafes everywhere, but I got the feeling that there was less tension between the people that lived there. I got the feeling that it was ok to be however you wanted to be. The Dutch seem to be much more relaxed about human nature and the reality that people are all very individualistic. Conformity might not be so good for everyone and every personal preference is not left open to so much scrutiny. There is a pervasive feeling that it makes no sense to be so up tight in this life. I took the lesson of that attitude as a souvenir.

Oh, we also loved the syrup waffle cookies – really good with hot chocolate!

I’ve been to Mr. Darcy’s house!

If you have seen Pride and Prejudice with Kira Nightly and Mathew McFadden you will remember Mr. Darcy’s house. If you have not seen that particular Pride and Prejudice then what are you waiting for!!

Mr. Darcy’s house is Chatsworth house, or I guess I should say they filmed those sequences there at Chatsworth. But really, lets just stay in the dream of it all - magnificent Mr. Darcy, so noble, so good looking, (not at all “dragged through a hedge backwards” as Donna says.) and he lives there in that incredibly over – the - top house!

If you’ve seen the movie you may remember the sculpture room that Kira wanders into. Yes, it is there and yes, I went and was thrilled to see my favorite in the room the Veiled Vestal Virgin by Monti. It is incredible to think that soft filmy veil is actually marble and not a flimsy whisper of silk. But I fell in love with all of the sculptures especially the Canovas. And at the end of the room they retain the bust of Mathew McFadden as Darcy.

Funny, after we got home I was unable to sleep – over exhausted with jet lag and turned on the TV and guess what was on. I loved recognizing every step in the great house.