surprise!

Well it seems that this one was highly overrated in our neck of the woods because it was cloudy during the eclipse. By the time I headed to work at six, it was full and bright white dribbling light over the lane as I made my way on the familiar course. I always choose to go through downtown proper rather than the busy by-pass because the traffic can be pretty bad (by our standards) at certain times and there's an art to the crossover that my parents failed to navigate as they neared 80. Thus their scheduled rides by whomever is available for hair or church. Mr Dusty is over 90 and still picks daddy up every Wednesday for lunch "with the boys." I hope I'm still able when I'm that age is all I'm saying. Mama crashed out two Toyotas there before her swan song with the third turning into Southtown on Easter of all days. I was at work and she ended up in our ER all bloody and crying and of course that just tears me up. She had on her new outfit and probably an Easter chick pin or something and here she was beat all to hell by an airbag. Their preacher stopped by and gave her the short version of his sermon which was "Surprise!" which I thought was totally fitting for both Easter and her situation. Another time she fell on Easter night while cooking Daddy country ham and there we went to the ER again. It's been non-stop for about ten years and time just runs together in the way that it does when survival means getting up and doing it all again. My friend Pax who is the Citizen Kane of New Jersey is dealing with a similar situation involving his own parents and I can tell from his daily posts that it's wearing on him too. It's a blessing and a curse if you know what I mean.

The sawmill was abuzz with drama today which is always, though expected, an adrenaline pumper when the shit hits the fan. I've hauled a lot of yucky stuff back and forth during my years there healing and serving the sick. I learned WAYYYY early on that my bad mood is NOT the fault of that patient and I'd better be nice and treat him or her as a customer. Do no harm. Take no prisoners when it comes to being that patient's advocate. And never beat yourself up when the outcome isn't what you tried for. It's the Big Guy upstairs who's in charge of the whole deal.

Still no plane and I'm really kind of surprised that they're still looking at the behest of a bunch of angry family members. I know you can't make comparisons but I will in remembering the length of time it took to clear the site of the WTC and Pentagon bombings and tentatively identify the thousands of people killed that day. We were so hell bent on punishing the perps in that case that we sacrificed thousands more lives in a war that was never about anything other than big oil. If I had lost a kid during that time or during Vietnam, I'd be highly pissed at the priorities of this country. As they return all eat up with PTSD and not able to afford food because their assistance has been cut I am ashamed of how we roll.

I got to see an old and dear work friends both today and yesterday which kind of helps to change up the scenery a bit. Haven't seen much of Boogs since the howling episode but I reckon he's doing well. As long as there's Ice Age and Scrat, he's good to go. Shannah and the older kids are grocery shopping for supper and gonna' cook it up so I'm free to do whatever, like watch Mad Men some more and lust over Jon Hamm.

Keeping the faith here. Hope you are the same ^j^