February 18--Reminder to Self: The Cold Kills the Bugs!

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever.  --A. A. Milne

    Doesn't that sound like Pooh Bear!?!!? I am blessed to have friends and family all around the country with whom I have generally sporadic contact via text, phone, and (real live actual hand-written) letters. These folks all have spots in my heart whether we connected yesterday or three months ago. These cherished ones held in my heart keep me healthy on many levels. Our hearts are so much more than pumps! 

    The snow dump that was predicted for overnight did not happen. I awoke to only about an inch of snow. More is predicted today. It is, however, frigid cold with a temp of 5 degrees and a -17 wind chill. I am quite grateful for a working furnace and my warm, snugly bed. 

    Do I stay or do I go? Surely more coffee will help me decide!

        Leta

February 17--I Am Quite Unfond of Winter

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because that is what love is. 
--Louis de Bernieres

    The weather prediction for tonight and tomorrow in Wichita is snow, snow, and more snow, with nasty, nasty, nasty wind. Oh, and single digit temperatures, not even counting the wind-chill. See the photo below. This is from one of the resorts where we will be staying in Bali. One week from today I will be in SUMMER. Even better, with a return date in early April, I will be returning to spring in Kansas. I didn't think much about this timing when I booked the trip, but (if I do say so myself, given the weather), it was GENIUS!!! 😉😉

    Today's mission is to get some exercise and accomplish several errands as I am likely to be snowed in for a couple days. 

    "One week till SUMMER, one week till SUMMER, one week till SUMMER..."

        Leta

Bali, another day in paradise!

February 16--Persistence Is Not Always A Good Thing

And when you get down to it, that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love--but to persist in love.  --Sue Monk Kidd

    I believe that in general, it is a lofty goal to persist in love--"till death do us part" and all that. 

    However, over the years I have seen several instances of persisting where there was actually major abuse going on and kept hidden. Some of the abuse was physical; all of it was emotional and psychological. Children have often been in the range of it, whether or not they were the target. The abuse went on much longer than it should have, for reasons such as "till death do us part," "maybe he/she will change," "I'm ashamed to let anyone know what has been going on," or "if only I were a better person, the abuse would stop." Big load of bullshit there. 

    I wonder what enables a human to think he/she has the right to abuse another? Such abuse is a CHOICE. They say those who have been abused are likely to abuse others. It is STILL a choice. I was emotionally abused for years in my family of origin, and I have not made it my mission to take that out on anyone else. 

    NO ONE deserves abuse. 

        Leta

Hoping to see some of these adorables
in the next few weeks!

February 15--"My Back Hurts"

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.  --Lewis Carroll

    I had a full-day simulated patient gig on Thursday. The reason for visiting the doc was lower back pain, mostly on the right side. I've had plenty of that in my lifetime, so it was not hard to pretend. I did 13 (yes, thirteen) 20-minute encounters with 1st-year student doctors. Some of them worked on my right side, and some on the left (not necessarily a good thing), so it ended up being fairly balanced OMM (Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine). Despite being brain-dead exhausted afterward, I LOVE these experiences!

    One of the student doctors, Vincent, was a repeat from one of my past sim-patient gigs. He has an outstanding personality to be a doctor. He recognized me as a "repeat" from the infinity tattoo on my left wrist, so we hit it off immediately. We had some extra time at the end of the encounter, so we spent some time gabbing in-real-life out-of-sim-character. Vincent came here from Houston. His father is a cardiologist, but Vincent has not yet decided on any specialty. Vincent's father helped him with the process of buying a house here in Wichita, and he has happily connected with the Lebanese community here (a favorite of our family, too). He says he loves Wichita, and he is staying here. How cool is that!?!?!

    We talked about improving doctoring. I offered that the thing I see most lacking is looking at the whole picture of a person--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. The typical thing is "my arm hurts," so the doctor works on the arm. But what if the arm hurts due to domestic violence? That's a "whole 'nother ballgame!" 

    Speaking of ballgames, SPRING TRAINING HAS STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!! JOY UNBOUNDED!!!!!!!!!

        Leta

February 14--❤😍 ❤😍 ❤😍

Love is what you've been through with somebody.  --James Thurber 

    My husband, therefore, loves me, because he went through the DEAD cell phone panic with me. That would be me panicking, not him. He set me up with an old phone temporarily and did the online research that ultimately landed me with a Google Pixel 8A from Best Buy. The setup was amazingly easy, and now order has been restored in my life! 

    OK, isn't it weird that the word is "panicking" and not "panicing"? What great grammar god decided the "k" needed to be there? I think both versions look strange.

    Many years ago, when I was scheduled to attend a retreat with Edwene Gaines, she sent out a "tie up all loose ends" list to complete before we left home. It included such things as pay the bills, return borrowed items, get necessary appointments done or scheduled, clean and declutter, etc. It was so rigorous that my husband asked me if I was coming back home. Remembering that list inspired me to deep-clean the woman cave in advance of my upcoming 6-week trip. The other inspiration was to be able to hang my artwork on the walls. The effort took me three days. I washed the walls and woodwork (furry), made a new sparkly curtain for the window, dusted and vacuumed, pitched and donated a bunch of stuff, and best of all, put my paintings on the walls. 

    Onward, to conquer more "loose ends"!

        Leta

My artwork in the CLEAN woman cave

February 13--Yes, I Am Totally Phone-Dependent

Don't imagine that love, to be true and burning, must be extraordinary. No; what we need in our love is the continuous desire to love the one we love. 
--Mother Teresa

It is not where we are going or how fast we get there that gives this day worth. It is how much we are able to radiate love to everyone who crosses our path, no matter who they are or what we are trying to get done. Love is what a successful day is built upon.  --Mary Davis

    It may take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. 

    Last night my phone died. DEAD. The screen went black and it was not to be revived. Since I am leaving in nine days on a six-week trip to the other side of the world, this was cause for total freak-out, melt-down panic. Fortunately, my dear husband came to the rescue before the freakage went too far. He got an old phone of his working for me, and offered to shop for a new one today while I am spending the day being a simulated patient with a lower back ache. Let's just say that pretending to have a "pain in the ass" is not much of a stretch for me today!!! 

    Leta

The "before" photo--woman cave cleaning chaos...
a story for another day...

February 12--I'm Back, Sort Of

That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.  --John Green

    I'm finally able to return to the blog posts without crying. I'm just going to pick up with the quotes where I left off, since they are all about LOVE anyway. 

    I don't know if I'm back really. However, a week from Saturday, I leave on a six-week tour of Australia, New Zealand and Bali. I leave winter here, go to summer there, and return in early April to spring here. I think that's about the best planning ever! I intend to use the blog as my travel log as many folks have asked me to do so. 

    SIX weeks!???! I want to go to all three places, and I only want to make the LLLOOONNNGGG journey over there one time. I've waited literally for years for the two tours to line up. We leave on the 22nd and fly to Houston, then San Francisco, then across the Pacific Ocean to Melbourne, arriving on the 24th. So I'm not sure when my first actual travel-log post will be. Therefore...

    STAY TUNED!!

        Leta

One of our Bali resorts
(can you say "died and gone to heaven!!"??)