TGIF

One of the great things about being back at work (sort of) is that weekends are once again meaningful. It's lovely to be back at work, but this weekend is welcome. It really has nothing to do with needing a break from work - more about needing a break from what has already become the grind of traveling every morning to get my brain irradiated. I was telling someone today that when I find myself a senior citizen, I'll already have this professional patient thing down pat.

But you know me - far be it from me to complain. The level of care I'm receiving at Franciscan Skemp has been superlative. Today I had my first Healing Touch session and I think it's going to be a very good thing. Today Marti spent time getting my energy balanced and I spent time practicing getting into my body and out of my head. Getting into my body is not something that comes naturally for me; I suck at it, in fact. But I can see that with practice I should improve dramatically.

In an early post, I mentioned my thinking on how the blood is so fundamental in determining one's overall health. Today on the table I had the revelation that one's breath is at least as fundamental as the blood. The breath and the blood - take care of those and everything else falls into place.

I'm noticing in myself an openness to the universe that I don't remember ever experiencing. It's subtle but very apparent to me. With my return to the ranks of driving-abled, I'm noticing that I'm slowing down. I've always been a fairly aggressive driver - never reckless, but always on task to get wherever I'm going. I'm noticing now that I'm just not in that big of a hurry anymore. Maybe it's a rearranging of priorities, but there's a peace now that didn't used to be there. It's nice.

I had a breakthrough today in a specific area in my quest to get on the forgiveness train. I was listening to a beloved Christina Aguilera CD - listening for the millionth time to one of my favorite songs on it. With perfect pitch, she was singing exactly what my heart wanted to say to this particular person in my life. Without getting too Twilight Zone , it was indeed quite a healing moment. I attribute this to the previously-mentioned openness to the universe.

Radiation/chemo therapy seems to be progressing well. I felt a little unwell this afternoon/evening, but I'm not sure if it was related to the therapy. I took a long nap this evening and have been feeling better, so it could just be generic fatigue from the ongoing surgery healing project.

OK, I know everyone is dying to know what I thought of Black Snake Moan. My expectations were not met. Note to self: The perfect film poster does not a fine film make. It had so much potential, and I think with a different director and lead actress it might have been a winner. I've always been intrigued with Christina Ricci, but I'm beginning to think I was only in it because of her enormous head. (You know I have a soft spot for people with big heads.) On the other hand, Samuel L. Jackson's turn as an aging juke joint bluesman was superb (when is he NOT superb?). I don't know if he was actually playing the guitar, but whatever he was doing worked for me. The scenes where he makes his grand return to the stage were worth suffering through the rest of the movie. For those keeping score, I gave it 2.5 stars out of 5. If it wasn't for SLJ and his hot licks, it would have struggled to make it above one star.

Today my brother and his family said good-bye to their four-legged family friend. Turner was a huge black lab who had been struggling along in his 14th year. With Kevin and his wife's help, Turner was able to say "bon voyage" on a good day and with dignity. Turner was the baby of the family before there were any babies, so the kids have all grown up with him around.

No matter how much we celebrate Turner's life, we're still left with profound sadness. Tonight we soldier on and celebrate Turner.