More Wednesday thoughts...

Winter is dragging on..... I am so ready for spring! I know I shouldn't complain living here in the south, we have very little snow, but the dreary cold and cloudy weather is depressing. Enough already! Today being Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent has always signaled that spring is right around the corner. Easter was always a special day for my family. Not just because of the religious meaning but because we were always here in Alabama when I was a kid. My Mom loved Easter. She saved little plastic cartons all year so she could make all her nieces and nephews their own little Easter basket. We boiled and colored eggs and then would have a big egg hunt. This was a precious memory I hold from my childhood. My Mom was a generous and giving person. My feelings about Easter are now still mixed up. Mom died on Easter Sunday in 1995. Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that she hung on till that day. It was the that day that I finally stood at her bedside and told her that it was ok to let go....that we would be ok. I believe in my heart that she did not want to go until I had finally come to terms that she was dying. Mother daughter relationships are complicated. Since I was an only child, my relationship with my Mom was extremely close. I think about her every day but with happy memories :)

I quit giving up things for Lent as a teenager. The flesh is weak....I never could stay away from chocolate that long!

I am going to add a picture of Carl & his twin brother Carrell taken last year. Carl had a volunteer tomato plant come up just outside the carport last summer. He was so impressed with his tomato plant. Carrell's brother-in-law Bill came over and took their picture. It brings a smile to my face because they are just funny. It is the simple things in life that can make us smile. This is what I try to teach when I am counseling my patients. If you can find just one simple thing a day that makes you smile or laugh, then it is a good day. Monday afternoon I was seeing a new patient and his wife. A lot of the visit was about relationship problems, the differences in men and women in their coping strategies, etc. It was more psychosocial problems than actual physical complaints. I did not know this till later, but the patient in the next room went out to the desk and asked "Do you have a psychiatrist here?" The medical assistant said no, we did not. It ended up she was able to hear my conversation and thought I was a psychiatrist. I think this is funny. I need a sign "Lucy" 5 cents as in Peanuts cartoons.

It did not escape me that this is a serious concern of lack of privacy. I have asked my nurses to stagger the rooms so my conversations will not be easily overheard.

Well, I guess it's time to do some chores and get ready to go shopping. Wednesday is senior discount day at Publix! See, I'm excited about the little things in life. All is good.