The Last Breakfast

I had an early morning appointment for radiation and then in the late afternoon a meeting with the oncologist for chemotherapy. It was getting more and more difficult to eat “real” foods, so I thought I would treat myself to the breakfast buffet at the Sheraton down the street from the hospital. The sausage links are great there.

What’s Wrong With Elitism?

Undoubtedly many of you have recently read the Time cover story asking if America is failing its geniuses. And that’s about as provocative as the article gets.

The author goes to great lengths to avoid portraying genius students (those who are 3 deviations above the norm or have an IQ of about 145) as oddities, but by doing so they are portrayed as oddities. He does note that students who are 3 deviations below the norm are about the same percentage of the general population as those who are above. However, there is absolutely no indication that these students who fall below the norm are abnormal. Is there something wrong with this concept?

To Separate?

For the past few weeks the educational buzz has been the separation of boys and girls for certain or all classes. Yes, it does work. I have done it. And the boys who failed the reading and writing portion of our state competency exams all passed them. And that was almost 20 years ago. (How time flies when we are having fun.)

Yet this brings to mind the fads and fashions in education. Haven’t boys and girls been separated for educational purposes for centuries?

Small Wonders

It is amazing how our bodies betray us. And in that betrayal we find joy in the small wonders of living.

Why Does Hospital Food Have to Be So Bad?

I had to get home…to eat. An overnight stay at the hospital ended up becoming four days! The Rns, LPNs, Aides, and hospital doctors were great and worked with me to relieve the pain. But I had to eat. For the first time in my entire life I am being told, “Eat!”

Well, I would, if the food were edible.

Who Are You Inviting to Dinner?

Most holidays I would just prefer to spend the day alone doing what I like to do: read, paint, sleep. This year will be different for me. I am joining a friend and her family for Christmas Day dinner. It may be one of the few meals I will be able to enjoy for a long time. But, it brings to mind all those people who have no one to spend the holidays with.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas many charitable organizations make certain the homeless and those having financial problems have a holiday meal. But what about those who do have a home but no one else in it?

Wrong Way

I can remember when I was a kid (all those years ago) that streets in town ran in both directions.  It was a nightly phenomenon that we would drag main street.  Kids all over America did this.  You would wave to friends as you passed and yell out greetings.  Then city planners came up with the insane idea of one way streets.  Now we could no longer go up and down the main drag, we circled it like a wagon train settling in for the night in hostile territory.

To this day I hate one way streets.  I have a rotten sense of direction.  I can get lost going out of a parking lot. 

Caught in the Whirlwind

“Nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens.” — Fay Weldon

Boy, does Fay Weldon’s quote capture what I am now feeling. It has been a whirlwind of activity during the last two weeks and it will continue for at least another week. Doctors…tests…doctors…more tests…doctors…tests again…more doctors. At least at this moment I can keep all their names straight. I’m not sure about my own, but I sure know their names and specialties.

In the meantime life does go on.

When the World Falls From Under Your Feet

Everything started going wrong the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had been on antibiotics for 10 days and thought they had done a good job of killing off the bacteria…both the good and the bad. The good news was the bad was gone. But by the day after Thanksgiving it was not getting better. So, like any sensible person I got in to see my doctor. By the time we were finished I think we thought we were dealing with a big, honking ulcer. OK, I can deal with this. But to be certain, the doctor wanted to me to see the gastroenterologist.

A Herd of Mooses

It all started when McDonald’s was giving away those beanies. One of my kids was a manager at the local store and he got me my first moose. TFMoose rode shotgun in my car for years. In our little group, we each had our animal: pig, cow, penguin, crab. And that started this insanity.