No Shadow Today!

Happy Groundhog Day! Yep, the big day in Punxsutawney arrived and believe it or not, old Phil did not see his shadow this morning! According to the lady at the doctor's office who had seen the news reports on the tv, this was the first time in fourteen years that the little rodent wasn't frightened back into his burrow from having seen his shadow. For those unfamiliar with the Groundhog and his reliability as a weather forecaster - sometimes he is on a par with the regular forecasters on tv, ya know - this means spring will arrive early this year. Hmmmm. Aside from the cold snap we had here last weekend and the 2-3 inches of snow we managed to accumulate over this week, I'm not too sure that autumn ever left us and winter arrived!

And, mind you, I'm not complaining in the least about the mild winter we've had here - compared to the midwest and Colorado - we've been extremely fortunate in these hills. And, if the groundhog is correct in his forecast, I sure won't be grumbling at all about springtime appearing early this year. Mild winter or not, I'm so very ready for the bright green colors of springtime to replace the white snow and those days of somewhat colder temperatures.

This morning, Mandy woke me up to tell me she needed me to go with her to take the two little ones to the doctor. I've been trying to tell her that both kids just have plain old-fashioned head colds, with the runny (constantly) nose, stuffy breathing and a bit of a cough but she was insisting that they were near to pneumonia stage in her mind. So off we went.

In the waiting room, Maya was as good as gold up until the nurse called the kids' names for us to go back to the examining rooms and then, all Hell broke loose! I was carrying Kurtis - who at his age is still oblivious to doctors and nurses and Mandy was left to virtually drag Maya back there! I laughed and told the nurses to make sure they had their ear plugs handy as they were sure going to need them while Maya was in their vicinity. Boy, how true that prediction was too!

Simply trying to take her temperature - even though they use those little things they stick in the ear and it registers in a matter of seconds - created a mini-firestorm with her. Kicking, screaming, crying like it was the absolute end of the world and with two nurses and her mother trying to hold her still was what was required to get a reading. Back in the examining room, with the lpn's who were trying to get vital sign readings on here created more of an outburst with her running to the door, struggling to try to open it and crying "Out, out!" over and over. We did manage to get her somewhat quieted down by the one nurse taking her out for a minute to find a container of pretzels and also, some marker pens and we let her then draw on the white paper covering the examining table. As I wrote numbers down, she told me the next number to follow and we worked our way clear up to 80 before the physician assistant came in to check both kids. Then it was let's hear how loud Maya can scream and carry on all over again. No matter what we do to soothe her, how many ways we and the nurses try to show her this is basically a painless procedure, she has a terrible fear of doctors' offices - almost to a panic type stage.

Two neat things today though - one was an e-mail I received from a lady at the tv station which had done the story Monday night about the couple expecting quadruplets in about 2 months and what's being done to try to get them some much needed assistance now and once the babies arrive too. She is going to put the couple and a friend of theirs in touch with me to see if we can possibly set up places in this area as drop off/collection points where anyone wishing to donate to the family can do so. Now, I have to contact store managers and the person who runs the mall over in Clearfield to try to find a few convenient spots where donations could be accepted. I'm really hoping this will work and folks will be willing to give a liittle bit to help this couple.

And the second thing today was a really nice surprise for me - a phone call from a guy who graduated from high school a year ahead of me and who I haven't seen since May of 1961 - almost 46 years now! Back when we were in high school, he was a very good athlete - played football, baseball and was on the track and field team. He even won a state championship I think in his junior year for the 100-yard dash. And, back then he was a very quiet kid, shy, polite - very nice. When I heard his voice telling me who this was calling, it was quite a surprise. We chatted for probably 20 minutes or so - had to cut it short as we had to leave to go to the doctor's office - but I think that was probably more conversation in that time span than I had with him for the three years we attended high school together. Although he has read some of my articles in the West Branch Review (the little local newsletter here that I frequently write for), he didn't realize who I was. So, when I explained that to him, he was quite surprised. As it turns out, he is very interested in geneology for openers along with various elements of the local history of this area - so it appears we have some good things in common there.

For my part, I think it would really be great fun to see him again and to be able to sit and talk - to remember some of the fun things that took place almost half a century ago now.

Wow - does putting that in here like that - "almost a half-century" -ever make me feel old!

And, just to prove I am really getting old - senile - wouldn't you just know it but in the middle of our conversation, didn't I go and have one of those lovely "senior moments" when I forgot right in mid-stream what it was I felt compelled to tell him!

On the drive over to the doctor's, it came to me! I meant to inform him that, in case he and his brothers were not aware of this, another former classmate of ours, neighbor to him growing up too, was recently let go from his job as Defensive Coach for the Detroit Lions Football team.

Dang those old senior moments anyway!

So all in all, today was a pretty neat day - no shadow from Phil, kids only have head colds and a call from someone who I remember much, much better than he does me! Pretty neat, I'd say!