L'aventure américaine

It has been a sad week at work and it can be hard to maintain a stable psyche on an oncology unit. I can't pretend to understand what my patients and their families are going through and sometimes I become overwhelmed with emotion at work. However, this exchange has kept a positive hope on my heart throughout this week. I had two patients two weeks ago who were sharing their hospital room, a curtain being their only divide. As far as I know, they didn't speak much, but they could hear each other's stories when I would come and assess them, talk to them or give them their medications. The man who had the window-bed was there because of an attempted suicide, so he was with a companion for 24 hours a day. He was also homeless. His roommate gleaned all of this information quickly, but did not request another room or say a thing about it. The roommate (who had the bed closest to the door) developed an infection that required a private room, so we proceeded to gather up his...

There can be no pictures of the inside while there are boxes everywhere, but, the outdoors are amenable to photos. Here is Odie in his brand-new yard. Incidentally, I think that Phoenix heat might be the recipe for a calm dog. He's been happily napping all day long in this 90 degree weather. Hurrah! Now I am off to meet friends for happy hour tacos. I'm venturing out at 4:15pm despite traffic. Why? 'Cause I can walk there.

I have had 10 addresses since I left home at 15. This doesn't include different dorm rooms or a period of homelessness during which I crashed on people's couches/spare beds for months at a time. I'm about to have another one. After all of those moves, you would think that I would either a) throw all of my stuff away, b) be better at packing, c) stop friggin' moving. However, I haven't done any of those, which is why I'm still procrastinating packing right now. Am I a serial mover? Do I have a problem?

I won't be going to the Jochim Easter Egg Hunt this year, but I decorated my eggs anyway. I am headed to a coworker's house to celebrate with some ham and drinks. I'll also bring my eggs and some undecorated ones as well so that we can perhaps decorate together. Nothing says the holidays like imposing your own traditions on another family!!

Odie and I took a nice hike yesterday and I was thrilled to see my first cactus in bloom (the beautiful Strawberry Hedgehog cactus) along with the ocotillo, full of green and red tips that I hadn't even imagined possible! It was quite the array of color from desert honeysuckle pink to brittlebrush and paperdaisy yellow to the purple of the desert lupine. Just delicious color all around! In other news, I might be moving again... Do I have a phobia for having the same address longer than 6 months?

I just realized that I am in fact 88 years old. I now post about the weather? The WEATHER?! I have got to get out more.

I like to think that I'm pretty tolerant of different types of weather. This is probably not true, since I often find myself whining about cold rain and the temperature range between 35 and 50 degrees (it's awful). However, I always enjoy cold weather with snow and hot weather and thunderstorms and spring winds and fall crispness. But, I'm not sure that I've ever enjoyed weather like I am enjoying the Phoenix springtime. It takes all the best parts of spring: the green, the good smells of trees and flowers blooming, the blustery winds... and then it adds 25 degrees. So, I've got all the goods, plus 70 to 80 degree weather. Add that to palm trees and a pool and I'm living in a friggin' resort here. The only downside to this perfect weather is that when I compliment native Phoenicians on their fabulous spring, all that they can do is say, "Oh, you haven't experienced a summer here yet?? Just wait."