Yesterday was a nice day. I asked Rob to take me to the eye doctor for my checkup nine months after cataract surgery. The office is on the eighth floor of a beautiful building and my doctor is the head honcho; he has his own corner suite. The other doctors, and there are many, have to share space with each other.
Rob dropped me off and I had to wait quite a while because it was mid-afternoon and people had started to cause him to get behind. I struck up a conversation with an older guy eating walnuts out of a baggie. (He and everyone waiting were on their phones, in spite of large signs saying to turn all phones off.)
“How long have you been waiting?” I asked him. He said, “Oh, I brought my parents in for their checkup. I’m waiting on them.”
He told me, “My dad is 92 and still driving and my mom is 87. She still drives, too.” So I told him he had good genes and to keep eating the walnuts.”
When it was my turn to be examined, I said to the doctor, “This is Bring Your Parents to the Eye Doctor Day!”
I also told him that I had been wishing I had gotten one eye for distance and one eye for closeup and he pooh-poohed the idea. He said he didn’t like that and mentioned a prominent baseball player that insisted that is what he wanted. “He got it and it didn’t work for him.”
My eyes were pronounced perfect and then Rob and I had a burger and fries before we went back home.
The rhythm of life is slow for me these days and I like it. But soon a new carpenter will begin work on the deck, since the first one got sick and couldn’t finish the job. The new one shook his head and said he couldn’t tell that the first guy got much done. The job is costing me a fortune, but all I can do at this point is swallow hard and write the checks. The deck is original to the house and very well-built. The problem is that it needs flashing, boards replaced and painting. My summer will be spent waiting for the job to be complete.
Sometimes I know I need to move and at other times I know I can’t. I have no idea about my life and how it will go. I close my eyes and sit in silence before getting up to do the next thing.
Vicki Woodyard
Vicki, I’m so glad your eyes are doing well. I’m having a morning where one moment I am in the silence and happy to be where I am. The next moment chores that need to be done, expensive remodeling that we can’t afford hangs over us and I think we should move. I totally understand what you are saying. But, just being in the silence (when possible) and letting go of the decision seems to be the only option because I know from experience, if and when the time is right we will move. Or not. Let’s just try to find the peace of each moment.
I am glad you understand. It is truly hard to accept that decisions are not made by the rational mind!