Good is Good, Except When It's Something Else
The past two weeks have been akin to walking through a pond of semi-congealed gelatin, trying to whistle, while memorizing 15th century poetry in a language you've never heard (much less spoken) before. My job was to keep my feet, keep my snorkle clear, and listen. I did pretty well, overall, with only a looming sense of sadness poking its lumpy nose in, from time to time.
The Sturm und Drang belonged to clients, mine and those of my colleagues. It was more akin to what I expect in the frantic dash between the beginning of November and the end of the year: stories of betrayal and retribution, denials and confrontations, deaths, births, and existential crises. One client lost her four-month-old daughter to SIDS. A pair of married clients are dealing with the fallout from their sanity-compromising daughter-in-law and her family, a high school senior with a chronic illness is in the early stages of exploring traumatic experiences that occurred when she was six. And on, and on.
It was challenging to remain fully present when people in deep emotional space appeared in back-to-back appointments. As a result, I've needed a good deal of sleep and down time.
I've also had a pretty heavy period and, as a result, was turned down at the Red Cross donation site earlier this evening. I was scheduled to give double reds (I'm O-neg with some excellent dearth of antigen markers, or something, and so they love my blood for trauma situations), but they ended up having to spin my blood (never a good sign in terms of donor eligibility) and my hematocrit was only 35. 38 is required for whole blood donations and it has to be above 40 for double reds. I was disappointed not to give blood, but relieved, too. I could tell that my iron must be low because I've been really tired this week and kind of dizzy, especially today.
So, here's to lighter days, both literally and figuratively, and a massive dose of comfort to the hearts of those who can use it. Me? I'm going to go curl up with wife and puppies and take a long snooze. These are the days when having a coffee maker with a timer on it is particularly lovely.
-Dot
Copyright 2007 Dot's Stuff. All rights reserved, but I've got enough coffee for two.
The Sturm und Drang belonged to clients, mine and those of my colleagues. It was more akin to what I expect in the frantic dash between the beginning of November and the end of the year: stories of betrayal and retribution, denials and confrontations, deaths, births, and existential crises. One client lost her four-month-old daughter to SIDS. A pair of married clients are dealing with the fallout from their sanity-compromising daughter-in-law and her family, a high school senior with a chronic illness is in the early stages of exploring traumatic experiences that occurred when she was six. And on, and on.
It was challenging to remain fully present when people in deep emotional space appeared in back-to-back appointments. As a result, I've needed a good deal of sleep and down time.
I've also had a pretty heavy period and, as a result, was turned down at the Red Cross donation site earlier this evening. I was scheduled to give double reds (I'm O-neg with some excellent dearth of antigen markers, or something, and so they love my blood for trauma situations), but they ended up having to spin my blood (never a good sign in terms of donor eligibility) and my hematocrit was only 35. 38 is required for whole blood donations and it has to be above 40 for double reds. I was disappointed not to give blood, but relieved, too. I could tell that my iron must be low because I've been really tired this week and kind of dizzy, especially today.
So, here's to lighter days, both literally and figuratively, and a massive dose of comfort to the hearts of those who can use it. Me? I'm going to go curl up with wife and puppies and take a long snooze. These are the days when having a coffee maker with a timer on it is particularly lovely.
-Dot
Copyright 2007 Dot's Stuff. All rights reserved, but I've got enough coffee for two.