A Funny Evening

Some of my patients are emotionally crippled for life because of what they endured during childhood. I know because I hear their stories. Others have dabbled in drugs and become addicted thereby ruining their own lives. Sometimes we have patients who are mean or totally unreasonable in their demands or very manipulative. Then some of our patients are demented or delusional or psychotic. Over the weekend we were full of the psychotic and delusional variety and though I regret having to admit it, we nurses laughed in private til our sides hurt. The thought processes of some of the patients was so out there, so bizarre, that it was hard to keep a straight face while we were talking with them. This was not "gallows humor" as it is often called when a patient is dying or in surgery, but really funny stuff. Too bad there is so much confidentiality or I would pass the comedy along. As for the staff, we had a hilarious evening and that is something to be thankful for.

Learning Takes Time

During my sixty plus years on Planet Earth, I have been through some trials and troubles. I have learned from them and believe I am a better person because of them. I have been to school off and on until five years ago, and I hope to go back sometime. I raised four boys to manhood and have been a nurse for almost a quarter of a century. Still there is an endless amount of knowledge that I will never get and wisdom that I will never have. But I do know some things.

I see new nurses who behave as if they have all the answers and who by doing so, show how little they actually know. I hear talk from people who are discovering life, having problems with relationships, and who struggle with day to day issues. I think...I've been there and this is what I learned about it. Sometimes I will voice a thought or give reassurance, but mostly I let it pass knowing their situations will pass, too. Experience teaches us if we listen.

I am making these comments because of the debate last night. If I did not know about BO's deceit and terrorists ties and all things were equal, I would still see through his lack of knowledge and wisdom. If all things were equal, and if he were a true American, maybe in a decade or two, he would be ready to be president. His diversions and self aggrandizing rhetoric covering for his ignorance were transparent. I have seen it too many times before to fall for it.

Baking Bread

Back in the seventies when I was a domestic diva, I learned the joy of bread baking. Why I got into it, I can't remember, but it was a time when the book Diet for a Small Planet was influencing the way we thought about food, and I became a part of the whole earthy thing. Thanks to my my German genes, I took to bread making naturally. As I pressed and turned the warm dough I felt not only a oneness with it but also a connection to all the women who ages before me had done the same. I baked sweet, savory, and hearty loaves, braids and doughnuts, and eventually developed enough confidence to try to duplicate any bread I had tasted with success. After I became a nurse, there was no more time for bread, because time is the main ingredient. Now I have a quieter house and occasionally the time and inclination, so I will get out the flour and yeast and come up with something. It is like riding a bike; you don't forget. But I have recently started learning more about different flours. I have enjoyed adding some spelt flour to yeast breads as well as quick breads and can tell the difference in flavor and texture. Tonight I made the best brownies; best because I used a pastry flour for the very first time. (I must remember to write how I did them.) Tomorrow I will probably use some of the organic whole wheat, with some spelt and bread flour for a healthy loaf.

One of my favorite things

...is a between seasons day like today. I love it when the clean breeze blows in and out of the open windows of my home, taking any cooped up stale air with it. It is a time to live in the moment, to listen to the sounds of rustling oak leaves, to inhale deeply, to feel the cool of morning on my skin. The only comparison is an equally lovely spring day when we are leaving winter, but today, the breezes sing that winter will be chilling our bones before long. Not yet though. I will hang on to this transition season until I am forced to face the cold.

Brightening the Office

I am back home from working in the assessment office, one of my favorite jobs. Kathy is a nurse who has been there . . . well . . . forever and has the mature indoor foliage to prove it. On her desk and the ledge above, African violets, philodendron, and whatever else are growing their little hearts out. Under the fluorescent lights, a big Christmas cactus is already producing these delicate white blooms. And thanks to Kathy's green thumb, the whole office is always dressed with perpetually blooming African violets. I think they are all so pretty.