The List

The universe hands me things I need. I may not know I need them….yet. The universe sends me things, puts things (or people) in my path that provoke me, challenge me, inspire me and generally offer the bricks (or mortar) to build whatever it is I need. Sometimes I don’t know what I need. These are some of my serendipitous moments.

  • I listened to a woman read at my writing group. And I love that I have a writing group again. I’ve even been fortunate to read and get solid criticism. But, I listened to a woman read this week and I was awestruck. For such a petite, unassuming, older woman with a head of lightening white hair she had the most impressive biography. One small factoid: she was a union organizer for women garment workers in The South. That’s some rich information. She has decided to write a blog and was asking for feedback on the home and bio pages. I will link her blog when she gets it up and you can read her bio too. You will be impressed, I promise. I also realized I had skills to offer the lightening hair lady as she was quite stumped with her blog.
  • NPR’s Cory Turner presented a segment about children, the amount of time they spend on a screen and their ability to “read” emotions on other people’s faces. I listened and immediately jump to the erosion of empathy and compassion due to ALL of us spending so much time interacting with a screen and not other people and their actual faces.
  • I’ve been eating a Whole30 diet. I am on day 17. No grains or things made from grains. No beans. No dairy and no sugars or sweeteners, even artificial ones. I’m doing this for health reasons. Everything I read said I’d have cravings, that I’d have problems. And also that I would see dramatic results if only I could stick it out for 8 days. Everything was supposed to get better on day 9. Well, I haven’t really had cravings. I have learned my Pavlovian response when I am very stressed or compressed is to want carbs. But, I have followed the diet. I’ve eaten more bacon and eggs in the last 17 days than in the last 8 months. I might also have figured out that I am better not eating any nightshades. How did I figure this out? Well nightshades are permitted on Whole30: white potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. And I’ve been eating a lot more than normal. I got to trade the nightshades for beans sans peanuts. I miss my peanut butter.
  • I robbed my bee hive on Sunday. My bees are very happy evidenced by the amount of honey I harvested from 7 small frames. I also managed to do the whole hive solo. My philosophy with this swarm of bees was to not interfere. I did not feed them. They had to forage for themselves. And their honey is dark like molasses and tastes like roasted peaches.

  • I had a rough spot at work, stumbled into another issue with our computer software. And in a flash, I was reeling with trying to find a solution to something that seemed unsolvable – at least in the immediate few days. And I reached out to someone for help and they instantly offered me a hand. This is a mountain I have to move on my own but to have someone so readily offer assistance without me pointedly asking for help was lovely.
  • I had a patient tell me today that 20 years ago she was reeling from breast cancer and massive complications that had left her unable to work. But today, this PhD professional is back working full time and reached official retirement age while working full time and she attributes that to me coming to Gainesville and taking over the medical practice of another physician that was ill. Bad things happen but from those bad things can come very good things. I was humbled that she gave me so much credit for her LIFE. I’m still blown away.

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