Ten-Finger Exercises

a brief excuse

Well, my plans have changed already today. Yesterday started off like that too, and it's a little disconcerting.

Yesterday I had an appointment for a physical at, I thought, 9:30. No point in going to work for the 9:00 meeting, right? So I arrived at the doctor's office, checked in downstairs so they could review my insurance card, checked in upstairs with the receptionist, and sat down to wait. She knocked on the window and called my name. Seems my appointment was for 9:15 (so why did I even contemplate going to the office meeting for a few minutes?) She insisted that I reschedule and I broke into tears. (You never know when those tears that are attached to other stressers and situations will break out. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.)

I left the desk and went back to the seat where I'd put my handbag, got my calendar out and returned. THe receptionist looked a little aghast at my wordless departure, but regained her poise and told me to come back in two weeks at 9:15 next time.

It had taken me months to get the appointment, so at least two weeks wasn't bad. Nevertheless, I felt jangled and went home, tried to work on my presentation for last night without much success. (I just typed 'cussess' twice, and I suppose that's indicative of my frame of mind.)

Today Lola has been nipping my shoes, wanting me to play or go walk, and I was angry. I tried to catch her to put her in her crate for a time out, but catch-me! became her new game. She speeded around the living room, dining room and kitchen a dozen times. I gave up and went into the bathroom and closed the door. I know that people use crates differently than that, that they're supposed to be a safe place the dog loves to retreat to. That hasn't worked that way for me, but does help her get control of herself when I occasionally put her in there for thirty minutes or so. I hope you dog trainers won't think I'm too horrible. "No bite!" was not working at all.

My excuse, I forgot to tell you, for having this time to write is that my cell phone needed charging and the car charger doesn't always work well.

This morning I was planning to drive my Northern route to see patients with Arlene, but Bill asked if I wanted to fly to Puyallup with him. That sounded ever so much nicer, so I left a message for Arlene that I'd changed my plans. After changing clothes, into my CAP uniform because another pilot was delivering a Civil Air Patrol plane and we were bringing the other pilot home in ours, Bill announced that the weather had gotten worse there. Instead of the fog burning off, the ceiling was down to zero, and so we couldn't go.

So, I'm back in my chaplain clothes (that is, just the regular things I was going to wear today) and heading North. Lola is in the back yard, unwalked and unhappy. The housekeeper will be here hunting for things to hide from us. And we have a vestry meeting at church tonight, which may bring about a discussion of whether or not we have enough income to keep paying for an assistant priest. It's becoming more and more tenuous, but hasn't come to a head yet.

Happy fall to you all. I hope I'll get back to writing again soon. I miss it, and i miss all of you. P.S. Did you know that red maple trees turn green in the fall? We have one in front of the house, and this is the first year I've noticed that!