Simple pleasures

The relief of having the much-dreaded colonoscopy behind me (no pun intended) has been an exhilarating sensation. The test was Thursday morning and all day Friday, I felt absolutely euphoric. Not only had I survived the test, it was actually an easy procedure and revealed no problems at all, which had been part of my dread.

My dad died at age 62 of something unidentified which had caused him to lose a great deal of weight; the doctor suspected cancer but because of his failing heart, Dad was too weak to undergo the testing and died without a definitive answer for us, his children. So we don't know whether it was cancer, though we do know that heart disease was a major factor in his early death. Needless to say, we are all alert to the possibility that cancer is part of our medical heritage, as well as heart disease.

It was a relief to be able to tell the Favorite Son that his mother was in good health and that she had no obvious maladies to be dealt with, other than the quirkiness he's already used to. He and the FDIL have their own concerns, with kids, other family members, and their own health, to deal with and don't need more. How nice not to have to add to their load!

One funny thing that added to the relief was that last week, my blood pressure on my home monitor was almost 180 over 74, which was a sit-up-and-take-notice moment. It hasn't usually been that high. At the hospital, just before the colonoscopy, my blood pressure was 20 notches lower, and after the colonoscopy, it was 10 notches lower yet. Was I stressed, or what?

Anyhow, relief is only one of the weekend's simple pleasures-----yesterday morning, the Episcopalian ladies had their annual Rack sale of nice clothes for little money (those Episcopalians dress well!), and I found two nice dresses, total $10, a jacket ($4), a wool sweater (2.50) and a light jacket (2.50), and have updated my wardrobe for under $20. Yay!

In the afternoon, I enjoyed a couple of hours with the North End Koffee Klatch at the hospital cafeteria---cheap food and good coffee.

And in the evening, the Source Conversation on Humanism attracted six of us who hashed over our own level of humanism as a part of our religious faith and found we varied on a scale of 1-5 by almost 10 points (one person pegging self as a 10 on a scale of 1-5 and another at 1.5). It was a great evening.

And today I don't have to preach; I can just enjoy the service this afternoon, which is our annual "This I Believe" day, in which four members of the congregation reveal their own personal credo. I just got back from having one immense blueberry pancake and a sausage patty at a local diner, the cats are asleep on my lap, shoulder, and feet, and there's laundry in the washer.

Ahh, simple pleasures! Not the least of which is posting a new blog entry!