Alphabet Soup, Re-visiting, Planning and Doing

Alphabet Soup
For a couple of weeks we have been swimming in a murky Alphabet Soup - all consonants like MRI, CT, PET - as machines scanned Jim's body again. Checking. Checking. Nervous making. Great relief to get the all clear reports last evening. So far. So good.

Would have been nice if the surgery last February had meant the end to any worries but its never that easy is it? I am learning that you have to accept the worry or the worry takes over your life. And what fun is that.

So on with the fun!


Revisiting Yourself
And fun it is! Robin and her boys arrive tomorrow. Well, to be more accurate, they touch down tomorrow morning. They are going on to NC for a couple of days and then returning. We will meet them at 6 am, hand over a car and they will be off. This is a look-at-colleges trip for Jamie who is a rising high school senior and its a good excuse to bring him ( and his brothers) out to take a look at UNC-Chapel Hill. Carolina is Robin's alma mater and we lived in Chapel Hill when she was in kindergarten. She can show her sons something about her life and re-visit it for herself. I urged her to stay two nights in Chapel Hill even though it will cost us one night of their trip. If you read this blog often you know I believe re-visiting yourself is important to knowing who you are today. I am still enjoying and processing our visit to Chapel Hill last month.

Planning and Doing
There is a valuable lesson on Travelin Oma yesterday - about planning and setting goals. I love the way she works out her plans - its a good model to adopt. I want to add something to her recipe - - that was brought home to me yesterday.

I am way behind on a fistful of lists and feeling pressured. Yesterday I had two and a half hours to wait at Sibley Hospital while Jim had his PET scan. I made a list, and in a flash of brilliance decided to only list two things. Then I packed up the computer and what else I needed for those two things. And no other toys.

It worked. For the two hours I waited - I worked. Sitting on the deck outside the cafeteria, surrounded by shade trees and flowers and serenaded by cicadas, and the roar of the near-by AC compressor, I stayed on my list and worked in my alfresco office. But I know and maybe you do do - that the real key was that I DID it.

So I add two more ingredients for Travelin Oma's recipe - discipline and follow-through.