Mr. Fiesta

After my Open Heart Surgery, while in recovery, the Chandler Regional Hospital Staff gave me this 'Heart Pillow' to aid in my recovery. They teach you sort of how to use it to sit up and move around etc. It turns out to be quite comforting in that process, and I became quite attached to mine.

As I understand it, at Chandler Reqional they are made by volunteers, and some are more plain then this one. I sort of like the whimsy of mine though. When my daughter  was able to come in and visit me, she named it 'Mr. Fiesta'. I still find myself reaching for 'Mr. Fiesta' when I am unsure about my recovery. :)

To all the volunteers out there who pay back a little love to society, I salute you.

Cheers, nca

Sealing Video

My Wife's Aunt made this video of our Sealing...thought I would add this one to the mix. My wife is and always has been the love of my life.

Cheers nca

There Should Be A Word For This Emotion

What do you call the feeling you get when...you are feeling like you own the world, happy as a clam, sitting on a natural high...and suddenly someone or something drags you down with a single word or a short one line phrase?

Example: There was this stone drinking fountain in the very center of the YMCA camp I worked as a young man. The drain had stopped working years before I came around, so it was always a couple of inches full of water, which would run off the side. Occasionally, when I was feeling full of vim and vigor, ornery to a fault, feeling my testosterone and adrenalin pumping, on top of the world - I would seek out a pretty girl in the crowd, run her down, and carry her to dunk her bum first into the drink. Harmless, yes. Perhaps politically incorrect a bit in this day and age, true. But fun, exciting, sure to get a laugh from the crowd, and a release of my pent up excitement and adrenalin.

So one time, I did this exact thing. Full of all this energy and vigor. The girl I can't remember, but someone I had known for years, for sure. Dunked her in...and she turned to me and said 'That is the third time you have done this to me over the years and I just don't appreciate it'. Ouch. Talking about Slamming a Door, cutting off the adrenalin, nipping the testosterone in the bud   :)

Just an example. But not all that rare of an experience, this emotion....whatever you want to name it. The sudden plunge, the deflation, the dip, dive, dump, the dire droop.

Cheers, nca