WOW, I'm old!!!

Ok, so the kid and I are going on a cruise in Oct. Invited him so I'd have an excuse to go again. My birthday present to me, and to him, since I contributed to the cruise fund he's accumulating for his birthday. He asked friends to do the same, don't know how many did.
Anyway, we have chosen excursions in Freeport and Nassau. The one in Freeport is a 12 mile bike tour of the island. I have always loved bike riding, hate running. But it's been many years since I was on a bike, and I've been wanting to get a bike for the campground....follow the thread, here. Yesterday, I bought a mountain bike with 21 gears. Never liked gears, cuz they were so hard for me to coordinate in the shift. Now, technology has gotten so that it is very much like having an automatic. Idiot proof adjustments on the seat, got my fatbutt a GEL seat (OHMYGOODNESS), a sexy cobalt blue bike helmet, and lockitup stuff. Got out this morning, stretched a moment, and started out after replacing chain that wasn't on the sprocket thingy. Before I even got around the corner, (maybe 100 yds) My shins were screaming, my butt was saying NOT ENOUGH GEL!!!, and my back was saying HANDLE BARS ARE TOO LOW!!!! But, I pressed on, no pain, no gain, right? Sides, can't let testosterone win, right? Oh, yes, I'm being so realistic since he's been riding a bike everywhere for at least the last two years. And he just turned 27 to my almost 59. It WILL be 59 when we do the island ride. Okay, so I AM the MEGACOOL Mom, so I gotta get this right!! I SO hope Freeport is as flat as I remember.

AHHHHH.....

60 degrees. What a relief. On our bodies and our paychecks.
I LOVE summer. I think I have what is known as "Seasonal Affective Disorder". If we get too many days in a row of rainy, gloomy weather, I go into a terrible funk. A deficiency of vitamin D, my body doesn't absorb it correctly. Recently diagnosed as hypothyroid, and severely vitamin D deficient, I am now taking supplements that have given me my life back. More energy, less depression, less aches and pains, less chronic constipation (TMI?),improved memory (Had to come back and add that.....not quite there,yet), such a simple fix for deteriorating quality of life. It does explain, tho, one reason why I love summer so. That vitamin D on my face and body literally made me better. Our bodies' functionality is such a wondermous thing. I have not stopped learning, hope I never do. If I do, it is definitely time to quit doing what I do for a living.There is nothing like personal experince to bring home things you think you know. I have learned NEVER to say to my patients that I KNOW how they feel, and to squelch that thought in my peabrain that they SHOULDN'T feel a certain way about anything. Everyone's reality is just that, THEIR reality. No less real because it doesn't mirror mine.
Sometimes I have to care for patients whose reality has slipped even their usual criteria. That doesn't alter the fact that, for them, even tho temporary (hopefully), it is their reality. They teach us in school to reorient patients to reality. What if their reality sucks? What if it is gonna suck until we rebalance their chemistry? Why keep showing them that their reality sucks? If they are seeing little kids in the corner playing and giggling and have a smile on their faces watching this, why should I cruelly show them that their hospital room is mostly barren of giggles? Now, if they are seeing spiders on the ceiling, or hearing plots to murder them, yes I will, as quickly as possible try to pull them from their living hell. Before you tell someone that the person they are talking to doesn't exist, find out first if that person is friend or foe. If that person is their safe place to be, don't steal that away. When the chemicals balance, their reality will as well. "Orient them to reality" BOHOCKEY!!
My reality now is improved quality of life, hummingbird feeder outside the front porch, fallen tree from Lee just missing my rv roof by mere inches, a husband I wouldn't trade for anything in the whole wide world, kids I am so proud of I could bust, a living Momma (kinda like her that way, she's 86), a brother who I love dearly in spite of our differences, a steady and secure job I love, vehicles that run just fine, work family that is every bit as important to me as my blood family,and too many other blessings to count. "They" say you should list your blessings every day in a devotional of gratitude. I see the value in that.