Friday, April 16, 2021
Sitting in a New Space
Thursday, April 15, 2021
A Referral - A Snippet
I've begun and rejected two posts while I've been on hold.
The phone tells me it's now been 10 minutes since I connected with my doctor's voicemail-from-hell system. There was no obvious number to push from the instructions, so I hit O and moved from droning voice to soft rock blaring from Speaker Phone.
After 5 minutes I spoke to a young woman. She listened. She put me on hold. She came back and asked my identifying information before putting me back on hold. After 9 minutes she wondered if I had a fax number for that referral; back on hold after giving it to her.
Three minutes later, she's back. Okay, we'll work on that and hopefully it will go out in time.
Hopefully??????? I explained that without that referral I was on the hook to self pay a really high bill that my insurance will cover if they send the referral on time.
Don't worry. I'm sure it will be there by the time of your appointment.
No, there was no way to have done this more efficiently. The phone call I made to the PA on Monday was absolutely the right way to proceed.
Why did I have to call again, then, I wondered as I hung up. I don't need any more anxiety in my life right now.
It's the little things that make the biggest difference, don't you think? I'm not feeling the same love I felt when I saw the doctor herself.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Subscriber Email Alert
A Virtual Baby Shower
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
The Sun Is Out and I Am Blue - A Snippet
I can list all all the causes for my angst -
- The lady who sneezed - maskless - over the vegetables at Albertsons yesterday afternoon.
- Taxes are due.
- We're traveling to Big Cuter's wedding next week - airplanes, hotels, restaurants......
- My irrigation is refusing to water two of my vulnerable roses.
- There's an HOA meeting next door at Fast Eddie's house and I wanna stay home and Zoom.
- The pool filter conked out after absorbing more than its weight in detritus; we haven't swum in 3 days.
- The trilogy about Henry the VIII I'm reading is pointing out the lapses in my knowledge of history.
And yet, here I am. Head in my hands. Typing though I want to weep.
Monday, April 12, 2021
A Strange New World
Olga's comment last week about it being "a strange new world out there" resonates in my soul. I gave myself a sick stomach last Thursday, forcing me to cancel dinner plans next door. I think I did too much too soon.
Reading at Prince on Wednesday, a private session with The Pilates Diva on Thursday followed by a haircut and lunch out...... it was a normal middle of a normal week set in the middle of Pandemica. It freaked me out.
By Friday morning, I was anxious about reading to another kindergarten class. I could have cancelled, but my heart wanted to share Caps for Sale more than my brain was feeling reluctant. I overrode my thinking and drove down to school.
I couldn't wait to get out of there.
Nothing was different than it had ever been. There were bright eyes shining back at me - 25 of them where before, during hybrid learning, they were 12, two days a week. Getting used to all those extra bodies on the carpet caused some consternation. The boys in the back were talking and the girls beside them were fidgeting. The littlest one with the tiniest face had a mask that was just not staying up over her nose; I could have fixed those ties if I wanted to get close to her...... the shot of adrenaline that coursed through my body as I considered a plan of action stopped me dead in my tracks.
Like I said, I couldn't wait to escape.
We imitated the monkey and wondered how the peddler got all those caps back on his head when all he has is that skinny little arm. I put stickers on chests and appreciated the few thank you's which came, unsolicited, out of a few of them. Normally, I'd have insisted on the polite recognition of a gift, but that would have delayed my exit.
I didn't stop to chat with the office staff. I got back to the UV and took off my lanyard and my Coat of Many Colors and my mask and realized, with horror, that I had no hand sanitizer. My hands never left the steering wheel all the way home; no way was I touching my face.
I shouted a Hello to TBG as I stripped and made my way to the shower. I washed off all traces of school, then joined TBG in the pool and swam a half mile.
I felt physically clean on the outside. I felt invaded on the inside.
I reassured myself that I was fully vaccinated, that teachers have been in classrooms, unvaccinated and unscathed, all year. I didn't touch any one or any thing but the chair on which I sat, and the table to which I moved so that I could be higher and further away. No one sneezed or grabbed me. I was in the room with the scholars for 15 minutes.
I'm fine. I know I'm fine.
I'm anxious and overwhelmed and when I realized that there is nothing on the calendar this weekend I calmed down.... a little.
Little Cuter advises small steps. She knows that I get excited. She's suggesting that I tamper my enthusiasm and listen to my soul. Costco can wait. It will be there when I'm ready. She's right. I'm just not ready yet.
I will be Doing Nothing for a few days, and I'm totally excited by the prospect.
Who knew that I'd look back at Pandemica with fondness?
Friday, April 9, 2021
And Today, A Haircut
It's been more than a year since my hair has met a pair of scissors. That's about 2 months too long. Up until then, I was amused by the length and the variety of embellishments available. Then, my locks refused to come down from their pony tail; it took about 30 minutes before the up do relaxed. And the ends were frayed and lifeless; pulled into a bun they weren't noticed by anyone but me.
I made the appointment the day I received my second vaccine. It was a declaration of freedom, of a return to The Before Times. I was only a little bit anxious.
The signs outside their new location said it all: No Mask? Okay.... see ya next time! stood on one side of the door, You Mask Up.... We Stay Open was on the other.
I knew the owner, my stylist, had been vaccinated. She offered me a chair away from the other patron, but since everyone was masked and she and I were full of Fauci Ouchies, I demurred. I didn't know how she'd cut my hair while I wore a mask, but long hair is easier than short hair when it comes to that particular issue. She was no where near my face or ears - that was new for me.
We caught up on our husbands and our daughters and my son. She regaled me with tales of unmasked patrons at their brewery, and the subsequent encounters with the police. Their brews are now in cans which they are marketing to supermarkets. Pandemica forced them to improvise; the improvisation will be a second revenue stream once things really open up.
Without stray hairs falling on my nose, the haircut was delightfully itch free. The conversation was delightful and the results were exactly what I wanted. She had fun sculpting a new style, and I had fun showing off my new do to Lady Jane over lunch.
It was an absolutely normal day.
Why is my stomach in knots now that I am home?
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Back At School
The scholars have returned to full time, in person learning on the campus of Prince Elementary. Masked and socially distant, they walk in careful lines, stopping on the horseshoes that have been painted on the playground. When I came around a corner, two little ones hugged the wall until I passed.
Grandma was back at school, and it was wonderful, despite COVID precautions.
There were no hugs (sigh) but there were many many smiles. Do you remember me? followed closely behind HI!!!!! from the mouths kids I haven't seen for 14 months. They've all grown. With masks covering half their faces, identification was spotty at best. Of course I do! was my standard answer. It sufficed.
Grandma's Garden is a disaster. Even the weeds have abandoned the space. There are 2 stray yuccas, no doubt pooped out from a burrowing beast. The aloe vera are flowering, but their leaves are brown and sagging. I thought the irrigation was set to water every day; that doesn't seem to have happened. The clean up will be fun for the kids and easy for me, supervising from my perch atop the stool G'ma used in her kitchen as she chopped veggies for salad. I'll bring it out just for the occasion.
And then I went to Ms F's kindergarten - 23 five year olds and 2 six year olds, according to the graph outside the classroom. That's a lot of kids in one room, especially when they've been used to seeing half as many earlier in the year. Small class sizes were a major benefit of the Pandemic Times..... though it seems churlish to wish for their return.
I read Caps for Sale and gave out stickers and no one tried to hug me (a first) as I stood to leave. The teacher and I exchanged teary glances across the heads of her scholars. We didn't have to say a word.
It's good to be back.