I Enjoy...

Photo: Wikipedia

I have started so many posts lately that haven't seen the light of day. I have a thought, sit down and at least start it so that I don't lose my thought, and then I never get back to the post to finish it. I don't know why I can't seem to just let my thoughts and my fingers fly and be free for pete's sake. Perfectionist tendencies are so restricting. I guess I've grown more thoughtful and reserved as I've gotten older, cuz I sure didn't ever have any problems expressing myself straight from the hip back in the day, that's for sure. Course, I guess I was probably a bit more abrasive then too.

Since I can't seem to finish a thought here at My New 30 lately, Faith comes to my rescue with a new Monday feature that she's hosting called ... What is it that you Enjoy Day. There are many things I enjoy that I don't think about that often. These are just the first four that came to my mind.  Of course me, not being one to keep things simple, I'm sure I'm off base with what Faith's intention was but right or wrong here is what it is that I enjoy...

Being in the Kitchen.  Until Hurricane Katrina blew away my "real job" and I started blogging, I didn't really realize how much I loved the whole process of cooking - especially with recipe development.  I've always enjoyed cooking, don't get me wrong, but when you have a full time career in the legal field (can you say stress?!) and a 1 hour commute each way every. single. day. cooking becomes focused on quick, easy, convenience products and fast food most of the time and it's real easy to get away from real food and scratch cooking with fresh ingredients. It's been such a pleasure to get back in touch with food again and the whole process of creating a recipe - rather than simply adapting somebody else's - is so rewarding to me.  (which is why I get so #%$& angry when somebody lifts one of my recipes)

My critters. The domesticated and the wild ones. My male cat Sunny (the gray and white one) who pokes his cold nose & whiskers in my face every night so he can curl up in the crook of my elbow, and I snuggle him close to me, damn the allergies. My female cat Cali (the, well, Calico on the right) who is so temperamental and cracks me up how stealth she is in her movements. Even this loud mouthed kitten (the all gray one) that wandered here last year.  My pup in that sweet, innocent way that he looks at me and wags his tail when I do nothing but smile at him. My yard turtles. My frogs and lizards. My butterflies and dragonflies. The raccoon that shows up at my back door, looking for a scrap of bread. He hadn't shown up at the back door for a couple of days and I found myself worrying over him. When I saw him there last night, I felt the joy rise up in me. It feels kinda good to be this connected with nature.

 Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.  They are all natural, preservative free, gluten free, utterly crunchtastic and absolutely addictive.

The Housewives of ... Whatever.  Hey. Don't judge. I don't have too many bad habits lately so it's become my guilty pleasure. Though I had heard bits and pieces about these Housewives reality shows, I didn't know what any of them were about. Until last summer when I ran across old re-runs.  It started with Housewives of New Jersey, then New York City, then Bethany's Getting Married. Next thing you know I'm Tivo'ing Orange County, Beverly Hills and Atlanta too. And I'm hooked. I am happy to say there isn't much drama in my life these days, so I can live vicariously through theirs and still be drama free myself.

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Turning 30

The Big 3-0.  It's one of those milestones in life.

For me those milestones started really with Sweet 16.  You were officially not a little girl anymore. You could finally shave your legs. Wear makeup. Get your drivers license. Get a job. Date.

And, then there was 18 - because you were graduating from high school. Growing up. You could finally leave your parents house and get your own apartment, if you wanted, which back then, you really wanted. And, back then that made you "legal" and for us growing up in a resort and clubbing town, it was drinking age. Well... it was back then anyway.

And then, there's 21 - well, because by then you were just about to graduate from college and working on building a career, and possibly even getting married, or maybe like me, you were already married and thinking about or actually starting your own family. You were finally really an adult and all grown up (or at least you thought you were).

After that, those milestones seem to come every 10 years.

The first big one is 30, because you were no longer 20-something. 30 because you were getting older. It's where you question your decisions in life and evaluate where you've gotten and where you've yet to go. On my 30th birthday, I was divorced, the single mother of a 6-year old son. In between relationships. Alone. I went out with friends to celebrate, clubbing, like we always did.

And then there's 40.  Wow, 40 is getting old, and it's a little weird. Kind of depressing too, depending on where you are. Your age is starting to show a little when you look in the mirror. The extra weight seems to stack up faster. And takes a lot more work to go away. Your hormones begin to turn on you.

And then, there's 50, where you realize, hey... wait a minute. What the heck was I thinking. I'm just coming into my own here. I'm not competing with people anymore. I'm not trying to prove myself anymore. I'm not looking for validation or adulation or approval from others. I'm just starting to re-discover myself! Heck... just really getting to know the authentic me, actually. I am not that old! 

And then... your own child turns 30.  My only child, my son, turns 30 this very week.

It never occurred to me that as much as it will be a milestone for him passing from that no longer 20-something point in his life, so it is another milestone for me. I never connected that to my parents or my mama before, and how she must have felt as she watched those very milestones with me.

We had a surprise party for my son this weekend. I say we, when actually it was my daughter in law that did all of the work and carried it all off without a hitch. She did a fantastic job and up until they arrived and walked into this door... he had no idea. All of his family and closest friends were there to shout out "surprise!"  Can you see the simple joy in his face? As a mother I can't even express how tender my heart feels when I look at this photo.  I so totally love this.

That's his children - my grandchildren - that you also see in the picture. They are already growing so much themselves. After you hit that milestone of 50 I'm here to tell you, time flies. Time really flies.

During the party, there was a slideshow of photos of my son running up on a screen, showcasing him from infancy up to the present. It was a little emotional for me and I found myself wiping away mascara'd tears well before the arrival of the guest of honor. Those memories sort of fade back as time goes, until you are reminded of them through old photos, some you haven't looked at in years.

As much as I love my son as an adult, as a father, and a husband, I really miss that little boy too.

Hug those little toddlers of yours today extra tight if for no reason other than tomorrow you'll turn around and they will be 30 before you realize it. Time really does fly.

What were your milestones in life? What marked them?

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Here's Your New Health Care Plan in Action

Photo: Emergency Dentist 24/7

I gave birth naturally. Not a single drug, at all.  I felt the pain. I remember the pain. It hurt like hell, but I had my reasons for wanting to go that route back then and I'm glad that I did.

Tooth pain, however, is probably the worse pain that there is. It hurts from your jaw, up through your eyeballs and into your brain. Yes, I say the pain is worse than even childbirth and considering I have experienced both, I would say that is a qualified statement. 

How would you like to live with excruciating tooth pain, while you wait nearly two months, to have a tooth requiring a root canal, worked on? 

First, let me back up and say that I do believe that everybody is entitled to receive care when they are ill, and clearly there needs to be a program in place that is better than the current one to help the uninsured and under-insured, and to provide preventative care. I have had periods of my life where I was uninsured, and certainly periods where I was under-insured, and there's always a possibility that I will find myself in that position again in my life. That possibility exists for all of us really.

My mother, who died from lung cancer was uninsured. My father who died from another rare form of cancer, was uninsured. In both cases their illnesses, once diagnosed, were terminal. Would it have made a difference if they had been able to have preventative care through a national health care program? Maybe. But, in both cases they received treatment under Medicaid, and in my mother's case, she was able to receive benefits for hospice care under Medicaid. 

The far left liberals in this country who like to label more conservative people as evil because they oppose this Obama health care bill, have it all wrong... as they usually do. The opposition doesn't come because conservatives don't want all people to have health care. Nobody should be denied health care because they are poor. Nobody should be denied health care because they are young college students. Or single parents who can't afford private health care. Nobody.

But completely turning the current private health care system - the best health care system in the world - upside down to achieve that seems excessively costly, and unnecessary in my opinion.

The things that are most disturbing to me about the politics of today - and I don't care whether you are left, right, somewhere in the middle, Republican, Democrat, Independent, whatever - is that the people who are sent to Washington to act as our representatives, ignore We The People and push through their own agenda that The People clearly do not want. As was the case with this nationalized insurance plan, our representatives forgot that they were our representatives, but acted in their own political interests. The other thing that disturbs me about this is that we already have a health care plan in place for uninsured and under-insured people that could clearly have been improved and expanded upon to cover the poor, without affecting the entire private insurance industry for those who work full time and have a private health care plan.

And, if you've ever read any of my Katrina rants, you already know that I am not a fan of the insurance industry as a whole. But that's a whole 'nother story.

My husband is a veteran. He served in the military and he gets his health care through the VA.  Fortunately, he and I are healthy people overall, with no health issues to speak of. But... nearly two months ago, he went to the dental clinic at the VA with tooth pain. Tooth pain that was likely created by the very VA dentist he visited when that tooth was drilled for other dental work. My husband was told that he needed a root canal. He was also told that he would have to get on the "waiting list" at the local military base, since the VA is not equipped to perform root canals.

That was almost 2 months ago.  Imagine, living with that kind of pain for 2 months.  Oh wait. I almost forgot. The VA dentist did offer to pull the tooth. You know... to provide immediate relief. But that was all he could offer. Wait two months. Or pull out the tooth.

This, my friends, is what your health care is going to look like when the government takes over.

Oh yes, they did pump my husband up with antibiotics, so that the infection would be kept under control in the meantime, because in case you don't know... you can DIE from a tooth infection.  And they also prescribed him some heavy duty narcotics for the pain. So he could spend the next two months in a fog while he waited for an appointment.

Despite that, he still went through horrible pain the past two months - pain that interfered with him being able to enjoy both Thanksgiving and Christmas - because for one, it was difficult for him to eat with the tooth, and also, because he had to rush home to take the pain medication.

I am not saying it is because the VA or the military base are negligent in caring for our military or our veterans. It is because they are a government run health care that is overtaxed.

I tried my best to convince my husband to go to a private dentist to have this taken care of. If it had been me, I certainly would have. But my husband is stubborn, and a very proud military veteran who feels that he has paid his dues to the military and should be cared for thorough the health care he earned from his service. He is sadly misguided, but stubborn.

This, my friends, is your new health care plan in action. And YOUR health care hasn't even kicked in yet. Your wait will likely be even longer.

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