At lunch today Joe was teaching me how to say hello in Arabic and the only word I can remember is Shalom. I get the feeling of that word. It is like Namaste. What's the Hawaiian greeting of the same ilk? Aloha!
The other day while walking I got started talking with a neighbor who was pulling dandelions in his yard. I ended up giving him a full physical exam, because he wanted to know about his own health, and because I needed the practice of doing physical exams on people not known to me. He is a 24 year old male, 6'2" and 185 lbs and has experience heart palpitations for a couple of years, and benign positional vertigo for five. We were in the bathroom with the lights turned off so that I could transilluminate his sinuses when I made some remark about his wife's potential reaction to finding him in such a situation. He said simply "She trusts me" and I went ahead with the exam. It took me until later to contemplate the beauty of that simple statement. How many relationships are plagued with jealousies and mistrust.
Yesterday in CPD class (clinical physical diagnosis) Dr Miller was talking about the hormonal basis of acromegaly, and he told a short story that has come to my mind again. A man had acromegaly but he was undiagnosed and had been to several doctors. Finally he goes to the right doctor, a blind man who knows that he has acromegaly from shaking his hand. I can imagine being that doctor, and shaking that hand.
Kitten is here. She still has the softest, most amazing fur of any cat I've touched. And I'm touching more cats all the time. They seem to like me more these days. Am I becoming a "cat person" somehow? They come running up to me on the street, and so do their people.
Suzanne is in California. I think she's having fun.
I looked at rentals on craigslist in the Lair Hill area. They're too high dollar for me. I want to live alone but I will consider a share if I have an arrangement with ample personal space for myself. I mean, I'd rent a 300 square foot studio if I could find it, but I might find a 300 square foot bedroom, or two rooms (office and bedroom), for cheaper. One thing that's really nice about Lair Hill is the view of Mt Hood.