Ten-Finger Exercises

new beginnings

Wish I could say I just started writing a novel, or even a story or a poem, but those aren't among the new beginnings happening today. However, some other good things are.

First, if I meander backwards through my day, I just hired a housekeeper to come every Tuesday for $25 a week. I'm not sure where I'll find it in my budget. I just started drinking an occasional sugar-free latte from Dutch Coffee, so cutting that out won't amount to much. My workload has died off, so to speak, so my hours are fewer per week. But I do want us to have company sometimes without my feeling a nervous wreck about my dust covered china cabinet, and light fixtures, etc. That won't help our natural messiness, but even once every other week as we used to do kept us a little better in line.

I have two new patients who I will enjoy visiting, even if they are right here in town. One I've known for many years when her husband was in and out of the hospital before he died. The other is actually the first person I've ever met who lives in a house whose former owner I knew. That's a sign of having lived in the area a moderately long time, to me. It's a wonderful house overlooking the river, and the son-in-law who owns it is an artist. The patient has never had to be dependent on anyone in her life, and this is new and difficult for her to move in with one of her children. She was reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and so I liked her immediately.

First thing this morning I skipped the regular Monday morning meeting at hospice in order to go to the staff meeting at church, the first one with our new priest, Fr. Birch. From now on they will meet on Wednesdays, which will give me the chance to attend much more often. As it is, the few times I've been there this year, I've been very late, due to the previous meeting. I was a little late this morning accidentally, but no one knew I hadn't come as quickly as possible from work.

Also, no one said, "I'm glad you could make it," even afterwards. Or even hello. I think I'm getting overly touchy about things like that.

Here is another "thing like that" on my list: when this priest came to visit last spring, he never asked me what I do as a deacon, either in or out of the church. So, last week after he'd arrived and settled in a bit, I emailed him to tell him what I normally do in church on Sunday mornings. I told him I have no sacred cows that I know of, that I'm willing to change anything that he wants, etc. Just let me know. Seeing no response, I called him, and he read the email as we talked. He said it sounded like regular deacon things to do. Okay. I guess that was it.

So there's my gripe: don't people ask other people questions any more? Don't they say, "So, how's your summer been?" or, "When are planning to take vacation?" or, "Do you have family in the area?" Or is it just priests and other professionals who don't bother with small talk? Or take an interest in other people's lives? That was certainly true of our last priest. I hope this one is more personable.

Oh, here's my other beginning. I advertised the wall oven in the newspaper finally. I just found the manual with the model number, etc. Bill bought it at a church sale, a donation for the scholarship fund. It's brand new, still in the box, but too large for the space in our kitchen. It's a 30", and we have a 27" now with no timer or self-cleaning. I hope it sells!