Tag: life

  • Humans Are Weird About Poop

    I do not understand humans.

    Specifically, I do not understand their obsession with poop.

    I poop.

    This is not news.

    I have been doing it my entire life.


    I find a suitable location.

    I sniff.

    I circle.

    Sometimes I reconsider.

    I sniff somewhere else.

    I circle again.

    Eventually, I poop.


    Then, to properly memorialize the occasion,

    I kick a little grass and dirt in its general direction with my hind legs.

    A marker, if you will.

    My work here is done.

    As far as I am concerned, my responsibilities have now been fulfilled.


    But apparently, this is when Management’s responsibilities begin.

    She follows behind me carrying a roll of little pink bags

    specifically designed for poop.

    Think about that.

    Humans manufacture special bags.

    For poop.

    Then they BUY the special bags.

    For poop.

    Then they carry the special bags around waiting for someone to poop.

    And when I finally do,

    Management puts her HAND inside one of those bags,

    PICKS UP THE POOP,

    turns the bag inside out,

    ties it in a little knot –

    and carries it around with her.

    Humans are disgusting.


    Now, Management and I –

    try to walk about two miles out on the big road in the mornings.

    She calls it exercise.

    I call it a S’Walk.

    Short for Sassy Walk –

    because I think most words short start that way.

    I have four legs and am an athlete.

    Management… does her best.


    The problem is that sometimes I poop early in the walk.

    Management apparently does not enjoy carrying a warm, fragrant

    little bag for the rest of the S’Walk.

    Frankly, this is the first sensible thing she has ever said

    about the entire process.


    So she has developed a “system”.

    She bags my contribution,

    leaves the little pink bag somewhere she will see it,

    and picks it up on our way back home.


    I don’t understand why we picked it up in the first place

    if we’re just going to put it back down.

    But nobody asks me.


    This morning, we followed the usual procedure.

    I pooped.

    Management bagged.

    Management deposited.

    We continued our S’WALK.

    Short for Sassy Walk –

    I think most words should start that way.


    And when we came back…

    MY POOP WAS GONE.

    Someone had taken it.


    A neighbor had apparently seen my little pink bag

    and disposed of it.

    Wait.

    Are there POOP POLICE?

    Is this a thing?


    Because now I have even more questions.

    Why did another human want my poop?

    Was it bothering them?

    Did they think Management had abandoned it?

    Was it interfering with the natural beauty of our little gravel road?


    Or…

    and I don’t want to alarm anyone –

    is there a black market

    for high-quality Wonderdog poop

    that I have not been told about?

    Because if somebody is making money from this,

    I want treats.


    Management, meanwhile, was horrified.

    She immediately began explaining to absolutely no one

    that she had been coming back for it.

    She would NEVER leave a poop bag on the side of the road.

    She is a RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNER.

    She has a SYSTEM.


    I let her continue.

    Because I would like the record to reflect

    that I personally fulfilled every single one of my responsibilities

    in this matter.

    I found an appropriate location.

    I pooped.

    I even marked the occasion.

    Everything that happened after that was a Management decision.


    So, to whichever neighbor “policed” the little pink bag this morning:

    Thank you.

    Management really was coming back for it.

    And if you happen to see another one alongside our road someday,

    please don’t be alarmed.

    It isn’t litter.

    It isn’t abandoned.

    It is apparently part of a highly sophisticated

    waste-management system.

    I don’t understand it either.


    I am a very good girl. 🐾

    — Sassy

  • Downsizing: A Generous Interpretation

    I haven’t written anything in a few weeks.

    We moved.

    I’ve been busy.


    Technically, we moved a month ago.

    But apparently there is a significant difference between moving your stuff and finding somewhere to PUT your stuff.

    We moved from a big house
    with a bigger shop
    to a smaller house
    with a smaller shop.

    We brought everything.


    Okay.

    Not everything.

    We downsized.

    We were actually quite proud of ourselves.

    If we found something and neither of us knew what it was, what it did, or what it might conceivably be used for sometime in the future, we threw it away.

    Ruthless.

    And if we discovered we owned five of the exact same very useful thing?

    We sold two.

    Sometimes.

    So really, I don’t know what more could reasonably have been expected of us.


    It turns out moving to a smaller house is considerably easier if you own less stuff.

    We discovered this approximately three weeks too late.

    George Carlin once pointed out that everybody else’s stuff is sh*t, while your sh*t is stuff.

    I understand this now on a spiritual level.


    Because for the past month, Hubby and I have been opening boxes and having conversations like:

    “Why do we have this?”

    “I don’t know.”

    “Do we need it?”

    “Probably not.”

    “Can we throw it away?”

    Absolutely not.

    It’s our stuff.


    And apparently our stuff is very important.

    Even the stuff we haven’t seen since 1999.

    Even the stuff we forgot we owned.

    Even the stuff whose original purpose can no longer be determined by modern science.


    So we shuffled stuff.

    Stacked stuff.

    Reorganized stuff.

    Bought things to hold stuff.

    And, in a particularly impressive display of human stupidity, moved stuff out of the way so we could make room for other stuff.


    But today, I am pleased to announce:

    THE BOXES HAVE BEEN SORTED.

    Every single box in the house has been opened, examined, judged, and dealt with.

    Mostly.


    There are, of course, a few boxes clearly marked:

    MY STUFF

    HIS STUFF

    IMPORTANT STUFF

    and the always useful:

    STUFF WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY PREPARED TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT.


    But those boxes are now semi-neatly organized in a large storage closet.

    Behind a closed door.

    Which, in my opinion, means they no longer exist.

    So I am officially declaring the move OVER.

    I am celebrating.


    Hubby, apparently, is not.

    He still has “boxes to go through” in the shop.

    But those are his boxes.

    In his shop.

    A separate building.

    Behind another closed door.

    I have decided they don’t exist either.

    Downsizing complete.


    Welcome to the lake house.

    Pull up a chair…

    I’ll make the margaritas!

    -Pattie

  • Then They Schedule The Next Scan

    Then They Schedule The Next Scan

    The doctor smiled.

    “Everything looks good.  No evidence of disease.”

    Hubby smiled.

    I smiled.

    But inside…

    someone screamed,

    I can’t keep doing this.

    It’s just too much.


    The celebration lasts about five minutes.

    Then they schedule the next scan.


    Somewhere around the three-month mark…

    the music starts.

    And I know it’s time to dance.

    I stop trusting my body.

    That backache?

    Probably from lifting boxes.

    Or maybe not.

    That pain in my side?

    Probably getting older.

    Or maybe not.


    The dance begins.

    First the blood work.

    Then the scan.

    Then the appointment.

    Same building.
    Same smells.
    Same chairs.


    Same people smiling kindly

    while my body remembers

    the fight of my life.  

    This isn’t my first time.

    I know the steps by heart.

    Smile.

    Joke with the receptionist.

    Tell Hubby I’m sure everything will be fine.

    Tell my family not to worry.

    Tell myself not to worry.

    And hope…

    If I say it enough times…

    I can believe it.


    They warned me the chemotherapy would take my hair.

    They warned me it would make me sick.

    They warned me I’d be tired.

    Nobody warned me that remission would have side effects too.


    Logically, I think it through.  

    The cancer I had was not caught by the blood work.

    So I don’t have to worry about that.

    Logically, I do the comparisons.

    Six months ago a PET scan showed nothing.

    A PET scan is more complete than a CT scan.

    Therefore, there will be  nothing on the CT scan.


    I argued my case like a lawyer.

    The evidence was solid.

    My body objected anyway.


    Because the body doesn’t work on logic.

    My body remembers what it felt like to hear, “It’s back.”

    My heart remembers the panic.

    My mind remembers my fear.

    And even my tears

    can only be held back for so long.


    Every clear scan…

    costs me

    a little piece of myself.


    Cancer may be in remission.

    Fear remembers every detail.

    So for the next two years…

    every three months…

    I’ll do the dance.

    And every three months…

    I’ll have to teach my heart

    what my CT scan already knows. 


    I got the news on Wednesday.

    “No evidence of disease.”

    Today is Thursday.

    I’ve cried most of the day.

    Not because the news was bad.

    Because my heart is finally letting go of everything it carried getting here.


    The celebration lasted about five minutes.

    In about ten weeks…

    the music will start again.


    If you know someone living scan to scan…

    remember…

    they aren’t just waiting for results.

    they’re reliving the day their life changed.

    Every.

    Single.

    Time.

    -Pattie

  • The View From Here

    The View From Here

    I recently spent a few days relaxing at the beach.

    And somewhere between the dunes and the ocean…

    I realized something.

    The beach isn’t what changed.

    I did.


    When I picture the perfect beach,

    I think of peaceful joy.

    The beautiful view.

    The sound of the waves.

    Sea birds gliding overhead.

    Cool water on my feet.


    Then reality showed up.

    If getting to the beach requires hiking through the dunes…

    it’s too far.

    If the walk back to the restroom requires prior planning…

    we’ve crossed the line from vacation to endurance event.

    If cars are driving up and down the beach…

    it’s too trafficky.

    If I have to carry my own refreshments…

    I will not be refreshed.

    If it’s raining…

    it’s too wet.

    If it’s sunny…

    it’s too hot.

    If everyone around me is laughing, splashing, and having the best day ever…

    it’s too loud.

    And if all of those things happen on the same beach…

    I’m going back to the hotel.


    And somewhere between the ocean…

    and the hotel…

    I realized something.

    I just love the version of the beach that comes with

    a big beach umbrella,

    comfortable lounge chairs,

    someone wandering by every so often asking,

    “Would you like another drink?”

    “Can I bring you lunch?”

    and absolutely no requirement that I earn the view.


    Apparently…

    my idea of the perfect beach changed

    right along with me.

    These days,

    ‘m less “beach person”…

    and more “beach resort person.”


    And honestly…

    I’m okay with that.


    After surviving cancer twice,

    I’m learning that choosing the comfrotable chair

    isn’t giving up.

    Sometimes…

    it’s simply self-care.

    And I have a feeling

    we could all use

    a little more of that.

    -Pattie

    P.S. Tell me about your perfect beach day. What does it absolutely have to include?

  • The Wisdom of Shade

    The Wisdom of Shade

    I used to be a hunter.

    And now I am a gatherer.

    At least as it applies to amusement parks.


    I think it’s because I’m getting older.

    I’d like to blame something else.

    But aging has no alibi.


    Plan a trip to X 

    to see Y

    and flawlessly execute the plan.

    I found the game,

    and then I took it down.

    Hunt complete.


    The young people amusementing themselves with us

    are still hunters.

    Each day they planned the big game of the day,

    And set out to capture the death-defying roller coaster of choice.

    The ROC. 


    Their logic was not to hunt in the picked-over concrete forest

    but to seek out the untouched land. 

    Getting to the game before the other hunters was urgent.

    And of course it was always the furthest away.


    Being reasonably responsible people,

    Hubby and I did not buy fast passes for six.

    And for the same reason,

    we stayed at a three bedroom four-and-a-half bath VRBO

    instead of one of the park hotels offering early entry.

    We learned a long time ago:

    no matter how many people you pack into a hotel room,

    there is only one bathroom per room.

    And one bathroom divided by six people

    equals misery for five at any given moment.


    So: no early entry, no fast pass.

    The hunters still wanted to beat the crowd.


    The death march began the very instant

    our feet hit the parking lot pavement.

    The mission was to walk as fast as we could

    on the pre-determined straightest path to the ROC.


    No sightseeing.

    No people watching.

    No dilly-dallying.

    Not even a bathroom stop,

    if the hunters had their way.

    But mine is a 69-year-old post-chemo bladder.

    It always gets its way. 


    None of them are under 5’8″.

    They are young and fit,

    with powerful slender legs

     and long, easy strides.

    They were hunting with passion.


    I was none of those things.


    So I raced along,

    double-stepping as fast as my little feet –

    including the injured big toe –

    would carry me.


    That first death march

    my watch clocked a mile and a half

    before we reached the hunting ground.

    And that was in the smaller park.


    I arrived exhausted,

    sweating profusely,

    and to be honest – pretty put off.

    (Southern for: not at all pleased.)


    The rest of the day was a remake of that first death march,

    ride after ride after ride.

    Hunters hunt.

    That’s what they do.


    Their hunting went on.

    My thrill did not.


    Without  their big game to direct my focus,

    I started looking around for what would entertain me.

    I realized what I wanted was to

    enjoy a cool breeze,

    watch the little kids’ shining faces

    getting their pictures made with in-character characters,

    sit and have a drink in the shade,

    admire the beautiful scenery, and

    smell the metaphorical roses.

    I had become a gatherer.


    I was torn, to be sure.

    I wanted the S’kiddles to have a great time.

    And while I knew a great time,

    in the hunter’s sense,

    wasn’t going to happen for me,

    I didn’t want the death marches to become the death of me.


    So instead of chasing their ROC,

    I let the pack go on ahead of me.

    With two men over 6’5″,

    they were pretty easy to use as landmarks.


    And I looked around as I walked.

    I saw things I’d had no idea were there.

    A bathroom, up the hill to the right.

    A water bottle refill station, just to the left.

    A Starbucks, tucked into a cute little alcove up ahead.

    None of it was their ROC.

    All of it was exactly what I needed.


    I used to search for the ROC

    looking neither left nor right,

    and hunt it down.

    Now I was noticing shade.


    Hunters hunt.

    Gatherers gather.

    And it turns out,

    somewhere around mile two of a death march,

    gathering looks a lot more like wisdom than giving up.

    -Pattie