An Idea

She turned her face up to meet the stars.

They twinkled and blurred and streaked and winked.

Her tears made it hard to see who they were.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

“Who am I?” she sobbed.

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The faces of the moons always seemed to know how she was feeling. The brown moon was harder to see, but when you take the time to look long and soft, it is there. The silver moon was always a little happier. Sometimes, though, you could tell, even he felt troubles.

She would make friends of the moons when she lay down at night. Brown and Silver.They would just listen to her, looking on with feeling. She would speak gently to them sometimes, but usually she would just think up to them. She would study their faces.

She would, at night, lay there wondering what was out there among the stars. She would come alive in thoughts, in questions, and in dreams. She relished her time alone at night, where all her troubles could be thought or softly spoke away. She would lay awake staring until her mind would drift, and she would sleep.

She would wake when the sun rising would make her eyelids red.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.

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Forgive.

The pain will be less. You will be happier. You will feel more free. Don’t go about it alone. When you forgive life gets easier. There won’t be guilt over remembering past wrongs, holding them tight against your chest, as if they were a friend.

They aren’t your friend. They are memories. Memories aren’t friends. They are in the past. You can forget memories. You shouldn’t forget true friends. Friends are there for you when times get rough. Friends can pick you up when you’re down. Friends can give you advice and help you do things better. (So maybe only good memories can occasionally be “friends”. But, still they aren’t real flesh and blood.)

False friends laugh at you. False friends push you down. False friends make you feel bad even when you maybe had been feeling good… or they make you feel worse when you’re already down. False friends make you long more, hate more, gossip more, ridicule more, envy more, think more of all the thoughts you try not to think, negative thoughts. False friends bring out your worst. Not forgiving, holding onto those false friends, those memories, it won’t do any good for you.

When you hold onto your false friends over real friends it alienates you. Your real friends will not feel loved, or wanted, so they will leave. You want a false friend over love, and comfort, and real advice, and loyalty?

Just forgive, okay?

Blight

Blight = a plant disease, especially one caused by fungi such as mildews, rusts, and smuts ;; disease, canker, infestation, fungus, mold

Humans are a type of plant – of sorts.
We can get blight – in a way.
Blight of the mind – a mind infested, diseased.

I Took My Grandmother to the Doctor

Although the staff was mostly wonderful, the environment in general was just so bad. Sad to say, I wouldn’t want to go there myself. I’ll tell you why.

The overall first impression I received was: shabby, cluttered, unkempt, dingy, and even though for the most part things were clean, I got the impression of dirty. There were old taped notes on the receptionist’s desk that were severely dog eared and dirty at the edges. At least one of the chairs in the waiting room was ripped in the seat with clear tape over it. Large windows that could have afforded refreshing natural light were mostly obstructed by near twenty half dead plants. Helter skelter on the walls were a menagerie of tacky artwork.

Maybe I’m wrong in my thought that clinics should smell sterile, clean, sanitized? This one smelled like dirt, a building that has been used too much and not been taken care of enough, and a sad attempt to make it smell better with a wax heat lamp.

I can even understand using a blood pressure monitor from the 90’s (I tell no lie, the nurse informed me of the fact) if it works better than the new ones. I try to be understanding. If you do choose that course, though, at least try to keep it CLEAN so it doesn’t LOOK like it’s from the 90’s! I do understand, there must be a lot to do at medical center, hundreds of patients, limited funds, I get it. If you were to simply budget fifteen minutes here and there, wonders could be done. If you choose to keep your plants, make them look healthy and strong. Do you know what impression droopy, dry, even dead plants will give to your patients? You can figure that out. Just think about it for a minute. Put yourself in the patient’s shoes. What about dirt, and dust, and pictures that aren’t straight and don’t match, and dog eared dirty messages on your check-in/ check-out desk?!

Look, I’m not trying to find fault. These things were screaming at me, coughing at me, begging for me to pay attention to their pain. I like the Doctor! He was nice, and helpful, and caring. I like the Doctor’s wife! She was sweet, thorough, and considerate. You have to understand, though, that patients will see the public areas of the center before they see these lovely people. The public areas are in such horrible, awful, sad of shape that it may dictate whether many will come back.

But, what do I know? I am just the granddaughter of the patient. I am inexperienced in the ways of life. I am just the next generation of patients.

Ito is the name, and it’s Lovely.

A new Japanese restaurant (with a limited Thai menu) just opened the other day in the small town of historic Florence, CO.

As soon as we walked in we were greeted with a cute little Japanese smile and offered a seat. Waters were brought and we were given time to look over the menu.

For some reason neither my husband nor I have tried Japanese fare before, excepting the occasional sushi roll or teriyaki from a mall food court. A sin, I know. So, here we are glancing over the well-designed menu and we decided on Hibachi Chicken for the entrée and crab rangoons as an appetizer (for something familiar).

As we waited for our food we now had leisure time to look over the place. With its choice of booths, tables, or bar seating it was actually simple, even quaint. Exposed ceiling painted black, exposed brick walls with semi-gloss, modern plaster near the front, modern bar near the back. Just a wonderful, not overdone, mix of modern and old.

Our food arrived and O My! We were both extremely happy with the little salad and the special made for this restaurant crab rangoons (which happened to come on a bed of shredded lettuce, surprisingly tasty with the rangoons). My husband was not at all fond of the onion soup – he thought it fishy. Yet, just a difference in taste buds for I thought it was delightful.

Enter scene: Hibachi Chicken! (Asian theme music please.) Chicken in a super sauce, perfect fried rice, sautéed veggies in some other wonderfulness, and two dipping sauces (we assumed for the chicken, though my husband did pour some over his rice). Everything was beyond words, unless those words are synonymous with tasty, fabulous, yum, etc.

To add to all of this, our little waitress did this cute hand over wrist thing whenever she set something on our table.

Okay, so, I only have two possible downers to our overall terrific experience. 1) The price was a leetle steep for the amount of food. We did share, which we often do at restaurants and usually come away full. This time, though, the portion was just small enough that we left slightly hungry. 2) If there was a dessert menu we weren’t made aware of it, and my husband is a dessert guy.

So, other than those minor negatives (which to some probably wouldn’t matter at all), our experience was very satisfactory. We have plans to go back soon!

(Apology for lack of pictures.)