Saturday, January 22, 2011

Check Up - Check In

I had my four month check up over a week ago and haven’t shared the results for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me yet. My blood counts are normal. For the first time in two years—everything looks NORMAL. I’m not anemic. My white counts and red counts are ok. My iron level is fine.

After the first rush of relief and elation, I began to worry that with all that “normal” going on I should have more energy. Maybe my lack of energy is just a bad habit. Maybe it’s just plain laziness. Or maybe I’ve taken the whole retirement thing too far. After I retired for the second time, I volunteered, I visited friends, I gardened and I worked to raise money for our charity. How did all those things fall by the way? It must be time to pick up the reins and move back on the path to normal. (Or at least whatever I decide the “new normal” is for me.)

Meanwhile, I am vacationing on Kauai, with temperatures in the 80’s and humidity to match. It’s ok to be lazy here—to watch the surf and clouds, to admire the resolute surfers who swim out again and again just for the chance to catch a perfect wave, to walk on the beach or sleep nine hours straight. So many choices. We can go sight seeing, play cards, drink tropical smoothies or explore the many flavors of Lappert’s Local ice cream. We get to marvel as the mother whales teach their babies to spout, roll and jump out of the water.

It’s all good and it’s perfectly normal to relax and enjoy another day in paradise. My "New Normal" can wait a little while longer.

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