Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day



I'm pretty sure my Irish ancestors somewhere would be proud of the 10K run we did as a benefit in Asheville this past w-e. Lots of people were dressed up, in lots of green, for the Shamrock run, which proved to be a challenging 6 miler up and over quite a few hills in our area of town. It threatened to rain but held off, giving us a beautiful day to enjoy the views from Sunset Mtn Rd toward downtown and the mtn range west of town. As one woman said to me as we were finally, finally crested the top of the biggest hill, "Well we worked for that view." Yes, we did. Holly and I rewarded ourselves on the way home with some delicious treats from the Sisters McMullen bakery which has just relocated (again) to another spot on Merrimon Ave-our part of town. We knew them when they still made doughnuts (now left to Dunkin D, just not enough profit in those...) and were located just around the corner from us. Now they specialize in cakes and more traditional bakery treats. Just fine by me, as they're all good and yummy.

Wear green today, pick up a shamrock, and spread some good luck today. Happy St Patrick's Day!

A Gaelic Blessing


Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the gentle night to you,

Moon and stars pour their healing light on you,
Deep peace of Christ, the light of the world.
(from a stone inscription at the Bald Head Island, NC chapel)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Wonderful Day So Far




I have been remiss in catching up here lately. As I have said before, I feel a bit sheepish about continuing to post my writing here, now being so far from all of the original reasons to start this thing in the first place. While I will never forget that time of uncertainty and worry over my (then new) diagnosis of leukemia, I have moved on. Sure I get a monthly reminder of all of that seriousness when I have my blood counts done, but the steady, normal counts quickly push away any worries I might have. I would never say that all of this happened for a reason (unless you count weak DNA repair systems) or that I am better off because of it, but I can take pleasure, still, in the simplest things. As my girlfriend was leaving for work this morning, she wished me a good morning. I work the late clinic on Monday nights, a hellishly long 12 hour day that I never look forward to-e.g. I saw 36 patients yesterday. However, my recompense is Tuesday mornings to myself, with only half a work day. So I was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at the trees just starting to bud, with daffodils I had planted blooming at their bases, while a myriad of birds sampled our feeders. I was sipping a delicious cup of French Roast coffee and thinking about my run to Ayr Mount, my usual run destination on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As Holly wished me a good morning, I replied that it had already been wonderful so far. Can you imagine how terrific it feels to sit in a warm, sunny spot where you can watch birds, flowers, trees, and drink coffee in a leisurely fashion? Can you imagine getting to do that every week-not having to set an alarm clock or rush out the door to meet your first patient of the day? Honestly, it has been a wonderful day so far...

This past w-e, Holly and I rode the ferry to Bald Head Island to join our friends Marty and Debbie at their new beach house just south of Wilmington. They have a big old place hidden amongst the moss covered oaks that they share with 12 other couples, each of whom gets the house for a week per season (13 couples x 4 weeks/couple =52 weeks). This is the spring week for Marty and Deb, who so graciously allowed 8 of us to join them. We had a terrific w-e there too, running the trails along the beach, visiting the Nature conservancy and Old Baldy lighthouse, enjoying seafood and other meals together (thanks Deb for that fabulous fried shrimp dinner-my favorite!), and watching a few basketball games as a group. As there starts to be some cross pollination between our friends in Asheville and our friends in Durham, Susan and Donna were along for the w-e too. Marty and Deb joined us in Asheville at Thanksgiving last year, and invited Susan and Donna to meet them at the new beach house sometime. So it was really a delight to have so many of our friends from both communities with us to enjoy that special place. I can't wait to see Susan's pictures of the island, being the photojournalist that she is. I'll make do here with a few photos from my little camera, just to commemorate the trip.