Hyper Piper

We had just barely entered the kitchen after our walk when she bounded through the screen door, knocking it out of the track.  Her buddy, Kozmo, was close behind.  And then they were gone.  Sigh.  This was the second time in a week that Piper had escaped.

Last time she slid by my husband while he was taking out the garbage around midnight.  We knew it was hopeless so we just went to bed.  Chasing her does no good (especially in the dark).  Piper is just too fast.  And she simply doesn’t care.  While Kozmo’s goal in life is to be a “good boy,” Piper really doesn’t care.  She does care that we love her and is very sad when we get mad at her.  However, she doesn’t put the two together.

The morning after Piper’s midnight escape, my husband found her on the front porch.  But when he tried to coax her in, she ran the other way.  She was on the run for another few hours.  She didn’t go far, running through our yard, and stopping on the deck to check on us.  When we called to her, Piper would cock her head, and then with a look that said “but I don’t want to” she would run off again.  Oh, and did I mention she was muddy?  When she escapes, she inevitably takes a dip in our stream.  Piper eventually tired of this game and when my husband sat down at the patio table, she joined him so she could be petted.  At least she didn’t bring home a chicken this time—another story.

So, after the screen door escape, we called Kozmo back fairly quickly.  Piper, of course, was on the run.  My husband worked to straighten out the bent screen door.  I listened to the early Fourth of July firecrackers going off and wondered if they would freak out Piper.  Sometime later I heard a couple barks at the back gate.  Piper was ready to come in—perhaps she wanted to spend the night in her bed.  And, of course, she was wet.

Piper is about 8 or 9 years old now; we have given up hope that she will ever be anything but a puppy.  She often carries a toy around the house, looking for someone to play with her.  Kozmo will sometimes play with her, but she wears him out.  I have owned a few dogs in my life, and I must say that Piper is certainly not the smartest.  In fact, I think she might have been gone (running through the neighborhood?) when the brains were passed out.  For example, we can rap on a counter or other surface while she is watching, yet she will think somebody is at the front door.  Sigh.  But Piper can be a sweetheart.  She really wishes to be a lap dog, and it’s taken her a long time to understand that she’s too big.  A border collie / shar pei mix, she weighs over 50 pounds.  When she is asleep, she is really out; we can step over her, move her around—no response.  However, when the border collie part of her kicks in, watch out!  She has been known to do a flying leap over the entire couch.  Our hyper Piper dog definitely keeps our household lively.

I Am Privileged

Am I aware of how privileged I really am?  I know that often I don’t think about it.  However, when I pay attention I notice:

• With all of the medical tests I’ve had recently, my insurance covers most of it.  What if I didn’t have insurance like many people in this country?  I guess I would try to live with the symptoms until things got so bad that I ended up in the ER.  But I have insurance.  I am privileged.

• There are people in my own community and around the world who go to bed hungry many nights.  They may not know where their next meal is coming from.  I have never gone to bed hungry.  I am privileged.

•  Foreclosures have increased in this country as our economy has soured.  More people are homeless, either living with relatives and friends or on the streets.  The situation is even worse in third world countries.  I own my home on an acre of land.  I am privileged.

• Many people cannot afford a car to go to the store, to work, to medical appointments, or anywhere else.  They must rely on public transportation, bicycles, or friends.  Or they walk.  My husband and I own multiple cars.  I am privileged.

• In some countries, education is not guaranteed for everyone.  This is especially true for girls.  In these places, few people graduate from high school.  In our own country it’s becoming more and more expensive to attend college, putting higher education out of reach for an increasing number of students.  I have a college degree from a good public university and I graduated without debt.  I am privileged.

• Racial discrimination has lessened in the U.S. but it has not gone away.  Years ago I worked with a black man who told me that he could not buy a house in the neighborhood next to mine because of his race.  There are laws against that now.  Racial discrimination is more subtle but it still exists.  A higher percentage of blacks live in poverty.  Our prisons house a disproportionate number of black inmates; they have difficulty getting good legal representation.  I am white.  I am privileged.

• Some of the lesbians I know are afraid to reveal who they really are to everybody.  They are afraid of hate, of discrimination in jobs, housing, child custody, and more.  They are afraid people will only see them as a gay person and not for the many other things that make them who they are.  I am straight.  I am privileged. 

I admit that I complain about being unemployed and how we struggle to pay our bills.  It’s easy to whine about our frustrations in life.  However, I have to admit that I am privileged.  If I am a good Christian, what does this mean?  I realize that I need to get out and work for justice in this world.  It is what Jesus would do.

Medical Merry-Go-Round

Began with a cough

Antibiotics were used

Still there after months

But I felt better

So I kept on with my life

And the coughing got old

Back to see my doc

CT scan showed pneumonia

So drugs were prescribed

Chest tightness, light head

This did not end with the drugs

Back to see doctor

See doctor each week

Pills for my indigestion

Brand new inhaler

EKG performed

Then saw cardiologist

Who did a stress test

Bit stressed at this point

And nitroglycerin was worse

Scary reaction

More nitroglycerin

Attentive nurses this time

An experiment

Early ultrasound

Then radioactive scan

Will I glow in the dark?

No diagnosis

More scans, another doctor?

Maybe surgery?

Life is uncertain

Medical merry-go-round

What will happen next?

Who knows what they’ll do?

It’s called “art of medicine”

For a good reason

Unemployment Gloom

In the past few days we’ve heard about the disappointing unemployment numbers and how we may be going “back into a recession.”  (Back?  You mean we were actually out of it?)  There have been stories about the effects on older workers and on the long-term unemployed.  I move into my eight month of unemployment as someone over age 55 and I relate to it all.

People receiving unemployment insurance are required to make at least two employer contacts every week, or in other words, apply for at least two jobs.  I have found that is difficult to do—there is just nothing out there for me.  Last week I applied for another job at a hospital in order to meet my quota, knowing that they will probably reject me again—but I have already submitted a resume so it’s easy.  I meet the qualifications for these jobs, but I have no medical experience and with so many applicants, they can find people who do.  And I’m not really sure I want this sort of job anyway.

What do I do next?  My unemployment insurance runs out soon, I think—they don’t really tell me and I keep getting extensions.  Unfortunately, we need the money.  If we didn’t perhaps I would declare myself retired like a number of my friends.  It’s not as if I cannot find enough to do.  My volunteer hours seem to be gradually increasing.  I do find this fulfilling, but I also feel I am taken for granted at times.  I have an acre with vegetables, fruit, flowers, and grass which need my attention.  There are personal projects, long neglected, such as family genealogy.  I could read more.  I could work at cultivating friendships.  The list goes on.  However, the job hunt hangs over me.

Some days I am fine.  I do my online job search, work on some volunteer thing, putter in my garden.  The sunshine helps.  But a gray day can make me all the more gloomy, especially after reading the discouraging headlines.  Today is one of those days for me.