Return to Boondock....

I have been a fan for years.

The sequel definitely will not disappoint a true fan....

Think, Think, Think...

I am prowling for inspiration. Besides the fact that my life goals seem to have gone missing, I have a request from my brother. After making the "you always come up with great ideas since you look at life differently than I do” statement, he asked me to think of a few ideas to aid in his newest business venture. I am flattered and we have had discussions like this before, but now I am racking my brain trying to find a good idea for him.

I know that I should leave it alone and the idea will come to me - like the idea to spike the mulled cider with Cinnamon Schnapps a week ago. The beverage needed kick but I didn't know what to add…....I focus on doing my hair and VOILA! - the idea pops into my head.

If this idea works, I may have the solution to my geographical debate.....I could eventually become a snowbird! (for those not familiar with the term, it means that I would live in the North for the nice weather and then bail to the South when the cold weather kicks in)

Jam On It...

I couldn't not go....I happen to be home, there was some subtle encouragement that fun would be had if I showed up.....and I was set to pay off the bet that I lost.

I want to have fun.....I don't mind doing stuff for others as long as I get to have fun to balance out the adult stuff!

Mind Reading Church...

On my most recent trip to Florida, I attended a service at my friend’s church. This church seems to be able to read my mind and provide inspiration without getting into “Bible beating”. The sermons somehow always end up tying back to conversations that I have had while down there and are ridiculously relevant to what I have going on in my life. (even to the degree of using the statements that I have made) It’s freaky. I now plan my visits around being able to attend at least one service while down there.

On this most recent trip, I walked in and the program that they handed me said “Discover (Little Sunshine’s name)” – this was the day after I met her…….

And the sermon consisted of how we hand over the remote control of our emotions to others and let them control our reactions.

My knee jerk reaction the other day was to tweet that my feelings had been hurt and then go on about how I felt like I was being punished for having a life to take care of and that others were being rewarded for overstepping boundaries.

But I didn’t.

I stopped and thought of the remote control idea. It’s true, I can’t control what others do, but I can control how I let it affect me. (Plus someone’s unsolicited comment a few weeks ago kept my lashing out in check – it reminded me that I am doing the right thing.)

Have Some Rope....

It’s been said that if you give someone enough rope, they will hang themselves.

Still waiting.......

You have come SO very close several times – I have been supportive and listened and consoled, but the pattern seems to continue.....

I am done, done, done....beyond done.....

Whirl, Whirl, Whirl...

Hey look, I'm a whirling dervish! I’m an adult! GAH!!

In the space of a day, I went from chauffer to nurse to housekeeper to counselor to chef to….I forget the rest….

Wait a minute….I was a M-O-M!!!

Over the past few days, I have helped my Dad get set up so that he is ok to be home alone….. Getting stuff set up when someone is loopy on pain meds is always a fun time...

“FOCUS!!....I'm not yelling at you, you're just not listening....no, that is not the answer to what I asked...”

Spending time in a retirement community is also a nice way to remind you why some people should live in those communities and not drive.

I did manage to squeeze in some other things – like being elected the president of my Latvian women’s organization. It is one of a handful that still operates – they are still important to the culture, but not as much as they used to be (when the country was occupied by Commies). I will see what I can do to boost membership…trolling events for minions…or (as was pointed out by one of my friends) I will be looking for “vixens” – a spin off from the word for “pledge”.

One the day of my election, I went from a very formal event to a Halloween party – dressed as a fully corseted and masked dominatrix. (there are some very fun pictures from that night but they are not for public consumption) One of my favorites pictures is a candid that a friend took while we were touching up our lipstick in a mirror – focused on the task and unaware that we were being photographed.

I’m happy to be home…..even though I know that I will be off and running once I regroup…..

Versus...

"You should've been gone....knowing how I made you feel..."

The brain says one thing....

"And I should've been gone...After all your words of steel..."

The heart says another thing....

So you invite the distraction while the two do battle....

Sidelined...

I was getting stuff done!

Closets were cleaned out!

Files were purged!

Homework was given!

A fun weekend was planned!!

And then it hit me....the flu.....

Blech.

I tried to get up and my body told me that I could go F-myself.

I spent most of the next 48 hours in bed.

*kicks flu in the shin*

Beep, Beep...

I found it interesting so I had to share!

The following is a list of some automobiles named after people:

Aston Martin (Lionel Martin)
Audi (August Horch, Latin translation of Horch)
Cadillac (Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit)
Chevrolet (Louis Chevrolet)
Chrysler (Walter Chrysler)
Daimler (Gottlieb Daimler)
Ferrari (Enzo Ferrari)
Ford (Henry Ford)
Honda (Soichiro Honda)
Lamborghini (Ferruccio Lamborghini)
Maserati (Maserati brothers)
Mercedes (Emil Jellinek's daughter Mercedes)
Opel (Adam Opel)
Peugeot (Armand Peugeot)
Porsche (Ferdinand Porsche)
Rolls-Royce (Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce)
Toyota (Sakichi Toyoda).

Info came from Reference.com

Sandy Fun...

Not everyone understands the connection….sometimes I just have to go and spend time with them to know that everything will be ok….

Nothing too weird happened this time – no requests to sketch my feet at the library….I really thought that I was being Punk’d that day….

I met some new little monkeys…..and one giraffe - one of them did not want to be called a monkey!!!!!!!! (I use that many exclamation points to show the emphasis of the dislike of being called a monkey.

I held a bearded dragon…well, more that it was plopped in my hand along with a mealworm…..the dragon finally ate after I stopped saying “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!” in a pitch that made the dogs cry.

I met Anderson Cooper's doppelganger....he's 8 and a mini hurricane.

I marveled at the athletic prowess of a kid that was fighting a 103 degree fever but wanted to play since I was there. Even deathly ill, she had “Olympics” written all over her playing style.

I got to experience an extended sunshower – big and little – made me smile and bask in the glow.

I ate pizza on the beach and marveled at the lightning in the distance while enjoying the ocean breeze.

There were great chats, there were incredibly long hugs and there were all the things that I needed and more.

I never cry for anyone else the way that I do when I leave them….probably because they love openly and honestly…..despite the drama that sometimes comes their way. They provide unwavering support and I can tell them the absolute truth and know that it will be kept safe and protected. Plus they seem to need me as much as I need them. We have considered each other family for years now - even though things did not work out the way that we had expected.

It’s tough to leave but it is the right thing to do for me.

Big Sunshine, Little Sunshine...

Oh Little Sunshine, I knew that I would love you, but the extreme and how quickly it happened surprised me.

And I had no idea that you would have the same exact reaction to me.

Big Sunshine had said that you would love me since he does….it works the other way too.

Bonus points for melting me with the "Bye, bye, mwah, mwah” *clunk* that you did as you started to fall asleep in my arms.

Mega bonus points for the look of shock that everyone had as you reached for me…..you are not a social sunbeam so I truly felt special that you wanted to hang out with me during the past few days.

Big Mistakes...

We all make them.

Then we realize what they are and move on.

Only to re-visit them a bit later.

We remember why it fell into the mistake category in the first place.


Yeah…it was a mistake…I knew that going in…

I’m gonna clap my hands, show my palms and go...

And then go back...

More Yippage...

Recharging...

"Run, Run I'm coming to get you!" That is what I have felt like for the past few days. Tornado-Viz is in town!!

The road has been flying by me at 80 mph for the past 5 days - I was beyond exhausted from spending 4 hours on the road every day.

And when I get to be that tired, everything makes me cranky. (people mean well, but it’s colossally annoying and hurtful - take a minute and think about it before you say it/write it folks)

Due to some lack of planning (not on my part), I have been scrambling to change flights and keeping other people in limbo. I need to go on this trip – it has been planned since August - everyone that I want to see will be in one place.

I will be back on the road right when I get back from this trip. I have to help move some furniture and then I will be living with dad for a week to help out. There’s no internet so it may get ugly quickly….maybe I'll take the furballs with me so that we have some entertainment!

Step, Together, Step, Hop....

The fact that I woke up and headed out the door at 4 am today was not lost on me - I have been known to get home after many a fun night around the same time....

But today I was headed to a hospital to be moral support for my dad. I only have two parents - have to make sure that I keep them around a while!

Despite my fears, I had to be brave - even crack some jokes - "If you see your parents, a white light and our childhood dog, you need to run the other way. Yes, run!!"

This surgery was needed to get his quality of life back.....it was long overdue but he has never had any other procedures done so it took a lot of convincing.

After a few hours, I got the call that "everything went ok" (in Latvian - talk about instant credibility!) and was able to relax and go call the troops while he was in recovery. Mom even joked that I was being "Mom for the day".

Blatantly obvious that the man was feeling no pain when I walked into his hospital room and was greeted with "Dizzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!". I was happy that he was coherant and ok and did a really good job of not crying from relief.

And we talked and talked and talked....."So what did they do with the bone they took out??", "Yeah, you need another ice pack - that male nurse was cute!" and "It's on FB and Twitter that you're ok!"

He has an intense recovery ahead of him, but his spirit is strong and he is motivated by being able to polka again....

Big thanks to my supporters - all your texts/calls/comments helped!!

Ping Pong....

I have been in a bit of a quandary…

I had thought that I had made a decision.

And then the next day things changed.

And then they changed again.

And the ping pong action is continuing.

Every time I think that the path is clear, something changes.

So I am frozen on the spot not sure which way to go.

Yip-Yip....

Will He Hold Your Purse?

A reminder as to why some guys are not worth our time and some are worth all of it.....

“Everything I know about marriage I learned in my cancer clinic.” I’ve been known to say this to my friends, maybe more than once, maybe even causing some of them to grind their teeth and grumble about Robin and Her Infernal Life Lessons.

I can’t help myself. I’ve worked as a breast cancer doctor for 20 years, I’ve watched thousands of couples cope with every conceivable (and sometimes unimaginable) kind of crisis, and I’ve seen all kinds of marriages, including those that rise like a beacon out of the scorched-earth terror that is a cancer clinic.

It’s a privilege to witness these couples, but the downside is I find myself muttering under my breath when my single female friends show me their ads for online dating. “Must like long walks on beach at sunset, cats,” they write, or “French food, kayaking, travel.” Or a perennial favorite: “Looking for fishing buddy; must be good with bait.” These ads make me want to climb onto my cancer doctor soapbox and proclaim, “Finding friends with fine fishing poles may be great in the short term. But what you really want to look for is somebody who will hold your purse in the cancer clinic.”

It’s one of the biggest take-home lessons from my years as an oncologist: When you’re a single woman picturing the guy of your dreams, what matters a heck of lot more than how he handles a kayak is how he handles things when you’re sick. And one shining example of this is how a guy deals with your purse.

I became acquainted with what I’ve come to call great “purse partners” at a cancer clinic in Waltham. Every day these husbands drove their wives in for their radiation treatments, and every day these couples sat side by side in the waiting room, without much fuss and without much chitchat. Each wife, when her name was called, would stand, take a breath, and hand her purse over to her husband. Then she’d disappear into the recesses of the radiation room, leaving behind a stony-faced man holding what was typically a white vinyl pocketbook. On his lap. The guy -- usually retired from the trades, a grandfather a dozen times over, a Sox fan since date of conception -- sat there silently with that purse. He didn’t read, he didn’t talk, he just sat there with the knowledge that 20 feet away technologists were preparing to program an unimaginably complicated X-ray machine and aim it at the mother of his kids.

I’d walk by and catch him staring into space, holding hard onto the pocketbook, his big gnarled knuckles clamped around the clasp, and think, “What a prince.”

I’ve worked at cancer clinics all around Boston since then, and I’ve seen purse partners from every walk of life, every age and stage. Of course, not every great guy accompanies his wife to her oncology appointment every day -- some husbands are home holding down the fort, or out earning a paycheck and paying the health insurance premiums -- but I continue to have a soft spot for the pocketbook guy. Men like him make me want to rewrite dating ads from scratch.

WANTED: A partner for richer or poorer and for better or worse and absolutely, positively in sickness and in health. A partner for fishing and French food and beach walks and kayak trips, but also for phone calls from physicians with biopsy results. A guy who knows that while much of marriage is a 50-50 give-and-take, sometimes it’s more like 80-20, and that’s OK, even when the 80-20 phase goes on and on. A man who truly doesn’t care what somebody’s breast looks like after cancer surgery, or at least will never reveal that he’s given it a moment’s thought. A guy who’s got some comfort level with secretions and knows the value of a cool, damp washcloth. A partner who knows to remove the computer mouse from a woman’s hand when she types phrases like “breast cancer death sentence” in a Google search. And, most of all, a partner who will sit in a cancer clinic waiting room and hold hard onto the purse on his lap.

Firsts....

I have had a few “firsts” in the past couple of days…..

Thursday - not the circumstances that I expected to have this specific experience in. It turned out to be the polar opposite of what I thought it would be. It was a fun bonding time and I have a good memory with a friend that I won’t see much of since they are moving across the country.

Friday – a first in a bar game environment, watching grown men giddily play the newest version of “Golden Tee’. I had no idea that it was as intense as it was – player’s cards, winning cash, game recaps and Youtube videos!

Saturday – I’m not a Ren Faire snob, just spoiled by the one in New York! Granted, that fair was small once too. I went to the Connecticut ren faire for the first time and had a great time despite the two monsoons that passed over. We threw sharp objects, saw a dragon carrying a “Good Humor” umbrella, met a vendor who did the “come into my booth” speech as if he was selling fake Louie’s in NYC and made friends with the King of Scotland who invited us to be merry.

There were some firsts during dinner on Saturday night as well, but they will remain undocumented to protect the innocent….

NJ Round Trip...

I felt like the phrase "My dance card is full" should have been used. Everything got set up and the schedule was tight but I made it! Plus I didn't have that horrible feeling that I had not been able to make it a decent visit. (some people didn't get to see me-I knew the schedules would not mesh)

I had dinner at one of my favorite Thai Places, busted out an innapropriate comment almost immediately, realized that the phrase did not translate well, ate some INCREDIBLE food (I handled the spicy, spicy goodness) and we had some amusing chats. According to M-O-M, I came back totally enthused and just talked and talked and talked. (shocker)

I got to spend M-O-M's birthday with her and make what would have been a regular day a bit more special. And I impressed myself with the lunch I made. (it presents very well and looks fancy but is easy to make!)

I traveled into NYC and had drinks with another friend - rounding it out to be a very Latvian visit! We drank some fall-appropriate pumpkin beers before I hoofed it down a few blocks to see Instrument play. The timing just worked and I got to spend some time with the boys before making the trek home.

Lots of fun packed into a day and a half.....