Thursday, August 02, 2007

Better schedule


Today, as I write this, I have a lot on my mind. This Minnesota bridge crash really spun me for a bit of a loop. I already am not crazy about bridges. I think it stems from the San Francisco earthquake that caused one bridge to collapse on the top of another. But to see a crash on a bridge that I have personally driven over and to realize that people in our old hometown could have been involved, is quite disturbing. Please be praying for the families of the victims as well as for the injured. What a terrible tragedy.

This tragedy, somehow, and I am not sure how, jolted me to the shooting at Virginia Tech. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about this shooting. We were in Nigeria at the time and one of my earliest memories of even hearing about the shooting is when one of the Nigerian physicians asked for a moment of silence for the shooting victims and their families. I remember thinking this "moment" was a bit odd. A "moment" for some shooting victims continents away when there are thousands of people dying of AIDS at that very "moment" right in their backyard. However, it was still a very kind gesture, most likely instituted due to the presence of Americans in their midst.

At the time, I refrained from getting online to read anything about the shooting. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the world around me in Nigeria. I didn't feel like I could deal with a tragedy back home. However, this morning, I finally got online to read old news stories. I am unable to put into words how this made me feel. For people to die so pointlessly and tragically is disgusting. I know most of you are thinking, "Wendi, this is very old news." However, this news isn't so old to me.

I have included a picture of JB and Scrubs. John's schedule, while still hefty, is much better than it was last month. He is driving to Pensacola each morning this month. He will not have to go on Monday, but on every other morning, he leaves at 5:30am. I am managing, somehow, to get up with him at 5 each morning. On Tuesdays he gets off at 6:00pm which brings him home at 7:15pm. However, every other day he will be home by 5:30 or so. He'll have one night of call each weekend. This weekend he will go in on Friday morning and not get off until Saturday morning. Not too shabby.

Scrubs is ecstatic when John gets home each evening and goes absolutely bonkers. The three of us left for a walk and stopped at our favorite little spot on the bay. Our quiet evening was interrupted, however, by the presence of three little boys, and shortly thereafter, their two moms. The kids loved Scrubs, but Scrubs loved them a bit too much. We had to keep him leashed so he wouldn't jump on the little boys.

One of the moms was a doola (I think this is like a midwife). She asked what JB did and when John told her he was a family medicine physician, her face looked like it might explode. She is having her fourth child at home, and cannot BELIEVE people give epidurals since they are derived from cocaine. John tried to be kind but eventually had to tell her she was a bit off in her thinking and that, no, epidurals, were not the same as cocaine. I, Ms. anti-conflict, managed to wander off and play with Scrubs and the kids and avoid the debate.

We finally headed home and happened to pass a new couple to the area and their German shepherd puppy. He looked like this little dog pictured at left. Scrubs and him played for quite a few minutes together. It was so cute to watch them play. The German shepherd was only 3 days older than Scrubs but about twice as big so he would let Scrubs beat the crud out of him. Scrubs finally managed to knock him down at one point, but for the most part, it was Scrubs trying very hard and "Mack" just lumbered around. It was adorable!
By 9:00, both John and I were unbelievably exhausted. While I took a shower, John laid down on the couch with Scrubs. The picture at the top was how I found them a few minutes later.
Today, Tiffany is going to drive me to the vet with Scrubs as John has the car. Scrubs is getting a couple of shots so we'll see how that goes!

5 comments:

Tara said...

Awww..when I see pictures of that age I miss my two as tiny pups. When they were sleepy they were so snuggly! They still are...but together they are 160+ lbs. Not quite as easy for them to be lap dogs.

I hope all of your friends are safe in MN.

Anonymous said...

how sad is my life when it's possible i might not have heard about the bridge collapse had i not read your blog this a.m. scary business. thanks for being my major news source :)

Anonymous said...

Good for you, John! Way to educate the woman who was a doula, so she's not spreading wrong information around! There must be a wide range of doulas and what they believe, because I was under the impression that they acted as "birth coaches" with moms in the hospital, to help them have a more stress free birth, and not that they were "anti modern medicine".

Wendi Kitsteiner said...

Oh Tara A. -- man I just want to have John cook you some dinner and sit around and do nothing together!!!

Tara (plan B) -- Scrubs gained 5 pounds this month. I think his puppiness will pass all too quickly!

Joia -- Shoot, I spelled doula wrong.

Anonymous said...

you must be really adjusting to your new life/John's schedule if you can write all that schedule and then end it with This weekend he will go in on Friday morning and not get off until Saturday morning. Not too shabby.
You're great!