From ears to fears
That’s the magic hour, 9:00am. That’s when my doctor’s office opens and I can start the Russian roulette of calling, hoping to get through on a busy Monday morning.
I got to sleep around 2am, just after Howie put more ear drops in my ear and I took another pain killer. One drop went part way into my ear, but the other two just pooled in the outer area. A couple hours later, I screamed myself awake as my ear was assaulted with a piercing pain. Took another pill, finally dozed off. At 6:00am, the scenario was repeated and I just gave up on going back to sleep.
So, I’m up, watching NBC’slocal morning news, something I never see. I just caught the tail end, so the depressing stuff had already been aired. I tuned in just in time to see a story about a wild 200lb female brown bear which wandered into a suburban neighborhood. She didn’t threaten or hurt anyone, just moseyed around. She browsed a few trash cans, sharpened her claws on a few trees. Probably pooped. Finally, someone’s little dog chased her into a tree.
Feisty!
Oh, ok - Guess I must ammend my statement about getting past the depressing stories — The Today Show just came on, airing the top stories. I see the Terror Alert Level has been raised to Orange.
Do countries that routinely experience terrorist attacks have such a warning system, or would that just be superfluous? Thanks to Dave’s Garden, I’ve recently made the acquaintance of a man from Pakistan. Kaleem is just your average Joe family man…an engineer recently married and happy father of a 5-month-old baby boy. He’s an avid gardener and loves to cook.
He frequently mentions how loving the people at DG are and how thankful he is for the site. He posts pictures of everyday things in his homeland, things like his postman doing his rounds, the ornate busses and rickshaws, and the plants he grows. He has a great sense of humor. I really like him.
He’s put a face, a person, to a country we’ve been told is full of people who hate us. Until meeting Kaleem, the image that stuck in my mind was of Pakistani people dancing in the streets following the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. Of course I knew there are people there who want peace, who just want to live their lives. But the visuals the news put out day after day, those things really stick in your mind even when logic tells you they don’t represent the whole.
Now, Pakistan has a face. I picture Kaleem and his wife in their wedding photo, and I see images of his dark-eyed, beautiful baby. Now, when I hear about bombings in Pakistan, I breathe a prayer that his family’s safe. I pray they are tending their gardens, raising their son, and going about their lives in relative peace.
I think I’ll head back to bed and try for another hour or two of sleep. And I think I can forego counting sheep in favor of counting my blessings.
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You may want to try calling the office early. My doctor’s office doesn’t open until 9, but they come in at 8 to start answering calls. It sounds like it would be worth a try.
What a great post but I’m sorry to hear you’re in pain. Hope you get in to see the Dr. and the pain is vanquished.
It’s 5:26 are you back yet? What did the doc say? I am worried about you.