OK, I refuse to get sappy

If you have been following my blog or if you know me personally, you know that the book I have been working on for six years is going to be published soon. You also know that this is all new to me and if you know me really well, you know that I have given up eating and sleeping to get this book ready for publication.

With this whole new getting-published thing, I am not sure about all of the proper protocols. At the end of the book, on that page entitled Acknowledgements, I list a lot (but unfortunately not all) of the people who have helped get this book to where it is, people who encouraged and supported me in various ways, people who helped send me on my trip to Africa. People who I believe are totally oblivious to the impact which they have on my life.

Last week, I mentioned one of those people, and I know that I did not do him justice. If you know Ron, though, you know that there are no words to describe him (I mean that in the best possible way). I am so blessed to have him in my life.

But I digress. Tonight I wanted to throw out there another one of the men in my life. He’s not just a co-worker; he is my boss, the doctor that I work for. At the end of the day, he is the one who has to be happy with my work. It helps if my patients are happy with me, too, I suppose.

Maybe I shouldn’t share the following story, but we writers have a saying. Everyone we meet is fodder for our stories and you might just end up in my next book.

Anyway, I had been driving 30 miles one way to work for twelve years, when an opening came up at the clinic here in town. I called up the manager, who I had worked for before, and asked if I could apply for the position. We set up a time for me to interview.

A few days later, I was in that manager’s office and she said she would go get the doctor so he could interview me too. He had seen my kids in the past so I already knew him, so it wasn’t really a big deal. He came in the office and asked, “Do you give shots?”

I answered that yes, I did. He said something like “good enough” and went back to work.

Some days are still like that, others not so much. But after twelve years, I'd like to hope it works.

Thanks, Russ, for everything. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. And by the way, you haven’t brought us Lindt chocolates in a while.

Or some home-made chocolates would work too.

What friendship means to me

Even though the daffodil has come to represent cancer awareness,
any yellow-colored flower symbolizes friendship.
These are the only flowers blooming in my yard right now.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Proverbs 27:9

New Living Translation

Sometimes, when I’m sitting around the house, in my own little anti-social world, I feel like I don’t have a lot of friends. But you know, true friends don’t have to be there every day, day in and day out. True friends are the ones who are there when you need them the most.

When my sister died, our mutual friend Phyllis jumped in the car and drove 250 miles from Minnesota even though she had been here the week before. As soon as she got here, she asked what she could do. “Sounds dumb,” I said, “but can you run to K-Mart and buy my husband some dress socks?” What a simple thing, but it really helped out.

Then I have some friends that I worked with 12 years ago. We only get together once or twice a year now, but that bond is still there so that it feels like we have never been apart.

Lastly there are the friends I saw this past Friday night. They are all medical assistants from around the state that I see two or three times a year. I’ve known many of them for 20 years and even though we communicate by e-mail or Facebook in between state meetings, we have been through all the highs and lows together.

Friday night as we were going around the circle sharing what has happened to us in the last year, I was blessed to be able to share the good fortune that my family has had this year – new jobs for my husband, my son and my daughter. I thought that was enough. But Denise chimed in, “What about your writing?”

Denise has been one of my most faithful blog followers. She’ll never know how much I appreciate her support – well maybe she’ll know now when she reads this. She is one of those friends every struggling writer needs. As many of our friends are, she is a true gift.

(And have I told you about last year’s medical assistant convention, when Denise, Nancy and I got up at four am to watch the royal wedding? Only a true friend would get me to put on a tiara at that time of day.) 

"I Know You"

Yesterday I was in Green Bay for a seminar to earn CEUs in my field of medical assisting. We listened to four wonderful speakers on three interesting topics (the fourth topic – OSHA regulations – not so interesting, but the speaker was still good).

The last presenter of the day spoke on Alzheimer’s Disease. What a devastating illness that is! Not one of us has not had a family member affected by it. One of the slides this speaker shared showed a cross-section of a normal brain and compared it to that of an Alzheimer’s victim.

I borrowed this picture from the internet, but it is just as clear to see that the brain on the right has wasted away, practically collapsing on itself. It is easy to understand why these men and women get to the point where they can no longer feed themselves, talk, or walk.

In April of 1993, we admitted my dad to an Alzheimer’s unit of the nursing home. The last thing he said to me was, “You are someone I should know.” A few days later he was hospitalized with aspiration pneumonia and passed away by the end of the week.

Why would a loving God let a disease such as this take over the minds of our elderly, our loved ones who only want to live out their lives in peace and happiness? I don’t know. But I do know this. Someday I will be with my dad in heaven and he will say to me, “I know you!” And even better than that, my heavenly Father will say that to me too.

“Do not be afraid—I will save you. I have called you by name—you are mine. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the Lord your God.” Isaiah 43:1-3 Good News Translation