Enjoy This Time

It is Thanksgiving weekend. We’ve had one side of the family on Thursday; we’re looking forward to the other side tomorrow. The weather promises to be pleasant, but cool, and the day should be a good one for all.
This time of the year, I also look forward to the winter solstice. That is the day when the sun travels, so to speak, to it’s farthest southerly point (Let’s see…that’s the Tropic of Capricorn) and begins the slow trek back to our end of the globe. It’s also the shortest day of the year and the beginnings of warmer weather to come. I know that there is a lot of cold weather in January and February, but at least we can see the days grow longer and the periods of cold grow shorter.
I don’t know how many more Thanksgivings I have left on this earth. Nor do I know how many more times I will see the sun begin coming back to the northern hemisphere. I may not see it this year…I may see it 30 or more times in the future. I just don’t know.
Nor do you. Whether you’re 20 or 80, you never know when your time will come. So enjoy the time you have been given, and enjoy the gift of the creation and the blessings that come with it.

Thanks For the Blessings

In years past, on this day (Thanksgiving), I made it a point to call my sister in Wichita and visit about whatever happened to come up. During the cell phone era (that sounds weird, but with texting, Facebook, Skype, and other means of communication, simple conversations on cell phones seem rather passé), I would many times call while we were on our way to somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner.
Now that we live in Wichita and see her more often, that phone call doesn’t seem so important anymore. We have better contact with one-another, and with many others in our circle of friends and relatives, due in large part to the Internet and modern communications. I don’t know that we communicate earth-shattering things to those others in our circle, but certainly we catch glimpses of life and living that we otherwise would not see. For some, that means little. For others, it’s a healthy way to maintain those ties that bind.
I remember years ago when communication was by letter. Long distance phone calls were a luxury and were saved for the most important news. In our family, the death of a loved one was fodder for a long distance call. Sometimes engagements were too, but most often those were handled by letter. A tragic accident or someone in the hospital usually resulted in one or more long distance calls. Other than that, it was a rare privilege to speak to someone in another town in Kansas, let alone across the country.
Now, however, I can keep up with friends in Western Kansas where we used to live, loved ones from various communities and churches where we lived and worshipped, high school classmates, relatives, and others I know. It’s easy and it’s enjoyable for me to know some things that these people choose to reveal, and a privilege to be counted among their friends, even if that friendship is Facebook friendship, and not the more traditional meaning of the word.
So, this Thanksgiving season, enjoy what God has given you. Thank Him for His abundance and blessings. And count among those blessings the opportunity to keep in touch, however you choose to do it.

The Holidays

It's not often that I lack for something to say or write. This weekend was one of those times. I don't know if it was the tired-ness of the work week prior or something else. I do know that I put on my Facebook on Saturday morning that I didn't feel like doing anything. That feeling lasted for awhile, but I finally got out and cleaned up some back yard dead stuff and did some trimming. That seemed to help a little, anyway. And today has been good.
The holiday season is fast upon us, and although I like this time of year, it's not necessarily my favorite time. I never was one to "yippee-yea" for the holidays (any holiday), and personally could take 'em or leave 'em. That attitude may have started with my earlier-in-life jobs where I had to work many of the holidays, and found I didn't mind doing that at all. Or it could be from my general personality that doesn't go too far either way emotionally, either happy or sad. Or it just could be that I am somewhat of a non-conformist and would rather be on the minority side most of the time. I dunno.
I'm not a party pooper. I'm just not a fanatic about the celebrations. Should we remember the birth of the Christ child? Absolutely. Should we remember that we've been bountifully blessed? Of course. Should we celebrate our nation's birthday, labor, veterans, and all the rest? Yes, yes, we should. Should families get together and spend the day (or days) visiting, bonding, and strengthening the ties? That's one of the bright spots in holiday celebrations.
Should we make the Christmas season a make-or-break time financially for the retail community? I don't think so. Should we overlook Thanksgiving by massing at the doors of retailers at 3am on black Friday? Ugh. Should we make Labor Day a three day holiday and put the "labor" part of the day in the background to eventually disappear all together? I don't think so.
And that, I think, is what makes me a little jaded about the holidays. They have morphed into something that resembles little of the innocence and joy of
holidays gone by. Oh, I know I can celebrate in my own way, and all of that. And I do. I shun Black Friday with a passion. My gift-buying takes up at most about 30 minutes of my year. And I really try to remember the original intent of the holiday, whether Labor Day, Veteran's Day, or whatever it may be.
So, however you celebrate the day, do so in a way that is true to your convictions. For we who celebrate the days a little differently, please honor our decision. And I am getting ready for family, friends, and pleasant and good times coming up shortly, and I promise I'll not be an Eeyore, but will willingly and happily join in. Deal?

How We've Grown

I can’t believe that it’s been only 20 years that we’ve had the term “World Wide Web”. So says NBC News tonight in a story recognizing the genesis of widespread public use of the Internet.
It seems that it’s been almost forever since the Internet has been part of our lives. It’s everywhere and is used for everything. It has revolutionized information sharing and society as a whole. The world is a lot smaller, by an enormous factor, because of it.
It’s ubiquitous. It’s a necessity. It’s part of us.
I recall well the first time I logged on to the World Wide Web. It was at the hospital where I worked in the 1990’s. It was, I believe, 1993. I had to make a long distance phone call to Salina to connect, and what I found on the web was not at all what is there now. Pretty much limited to text…reports, papers, statistics…one had to know exactly what one wanted because there was no search engine.
I thought it was extremely cool that my computer (probably a 386 processor running Windows 3.1 and 4mb of RAM) could actually connect with another and view files on that computer.
My, how we have grown. Or have we??

Amazing

I am amazed that anyone would second-guess a sitting President's decision (whichever party...they did this to Mr. Bush too) to travel abroad to conduct foreign policy. This second-guessing and President-bashing is based on economic data that is at best a flaky guess, and at worst, an outright lie. The fact is costs of Presidential trips are never released for public scrutiny. No one in the public really knows (and I, for one, don't care to know).
Security procedures are not decided by the President...they are decided by the Secret Service and cost the same regardless who is in office.
Recession or no, the foreign policy of this nation must be conducted. I'm certainly no expert on whether the President should go. I've not been privy to the daily briefings, the advice of counsel, the content of intelligence, or the communications of ambassadors, heads of state, and our own state department. Are you privy to that?
There have been scads of misinformation about the financial aspects of this trip. I'm tired of the lies and deceit from both sides. Is there anyone in the media who conducts his/her life with honor and dignity? Makes me want to go live under a bridge somewhere and "tune out".

Remembering

My sisters and I were talking (on Messenger) last night. The conversation turned to things medical in nature. I’ll not elaborate on the conversation except to say that it prompted me to think back to past experiences in my work in health care. The variety of experience I recalled surprised even me.
I was an EMT for 15 years. I also worked at two small, rural hospitals during that time. It’s a little difficult to explain, but in that environment, we did many different jobs with the overriding purpose being to provide the best patient care possible. It made little difference if I was an x ray tech, for example, or not. If they needed help in x ray, I often helped with the positioning of patients, working with films (they didn’t have digital images then), or whatever else needed to be done. It was just that kind of environment, and provided many opportunities for experiences not anticipated.
As an EMT on call (volunteer service), not only did we respond in the community, we were even sometimes paged to the hospital to help out in the emergency room or otherwise if the hospital was short of help. That was the hospital’s reservoir of “last resort” to find adequate staffing for whatever situation was presenting at the time.
I have performed CPR and bagged more people than I can count. I’ve started IV’s, calmed patients, suctioned, held traction, provided oxygen therapy, held hands, taken vital signs, provided assurance, and stopped bleeding. I’ve helped out in X Ray, lab, maintenance, pharmacy, central supply, sterilizing, dietary, housekeeping, the operating room, the ICU (when we had one), and on the patient floor. I’ve helped birth babies. I’ve worked in surgery. I’ve sat with dying patients. I’ve driven the ambulance…and provided patient care in the back of an ambulance. I’ve made blood runs. I’ve transported dead bodies. I’ve even set up and operated a makeshift morgue more than once at the hospital during a disaster.
I’ve announced code blues over the hospital’s public address system. I’ve announced codes over the public safety radio frequencies. I’ve responded to codes called over those radio frequencies. I’ve even called for a medical evac helicopter to airlift a patient to a facility.
Many of the most intense memories are those of patients who died while I was there. A fourteen year old girl going through town on a trip with her parents walked into the hospital complaining of a bad headache. She died an hour later in our ICU of a brain hemorrhage.
A man driving a truck going through town stopped complaining of chest pains. He died about 45 minutes later in that same ICU of a myocardial infarction.
We picked up an older gentleman in the ambulance and took him to the hospital. He was quickly diagnosed with a bleeding aneurism and was told (tactfully) he would be dead in an hour or less, that nothing could be done. He called his daughter, who came in. He was dead 45 minutes later.
Most of the people who were patients there, I knew. I knew that some families’ lives would forever be changed because of what was happening. I saw families cope, fracture, heal, love, deny, and triumph. I saw secrets made bare, hopes and dreams vanish, and miracles happen.
It was an amazing, wondrous time…one that has forever changed me and, I hope, one in which I was able to be the hands and feet of God as He worked in our world. I will ever and always cherish that time and trust that God now has me where He wishes me to be at this time in history. I am blessed.

Fact of Life

Tonight we gain back the hour we lost last spring. Or so it seems. Standard time once again will resurrect itself for a few brief months in the dead of winter, only to be replaced by daylight time next year. I don’t know how much things really change because of this man-made event, nor do I know how much it really affects the human internal clock. Some people say it is a chaotic time; others seem to slide through it with no thought.
I guess I’m really wondering just how many more of these time changes I’ll see. I’m not really old. However, I know I have many more years behind me than I have ahead of me, even if I live a normal life span. Increasingly, I see a kind of wall that is being built in my future, through which I’ll not go, and on the other side of which I’ll not see. I’m not the builder of the wall: time is.
There’s nothing macabre or melancholy about this line of thought, at least in my mind. It’s a fact of life and happens to everyone. I would think that one would be prepared as best as possible, and welcome the change from life in a broken world to life in perfection and peace. Of course, if one is not inclined to faith in Jehovah God, that future may not be readily apparent.
And, of course, there’s always the possibility that the men and women of faith who have inhabited history past are wrong. There may be no God. There may be no future. There may be no perfection and peace.
Much as I sometimes wonder, I choose to believe. I choose to look forward to a future of peace and security. I choose to look toward the answer to my faith. So, in a way, it doesn’t matter much how many more time changes I’ll see. The wall that is being erected in my future is only a temporary hold-back.
I don’t know all the details. And that’s OK, even though I admit it’s frustrating at times. All I need to know is that one day, time itself will go away, and whatever that looks like, I will be there in peace, safety, and security.