I keep thinking I am going to feel ready to move forward in some direction but not yet. Another hot and humid week which does not make leaving air conditioning enticing. I did work out with my trainer 3 times this week and my quest for muscular shoulders is starting to be visible – so that is not nothing.
I was able to get Carli in her back pack and do a 5 mile ride with her one morning. I could see her in my mirror and she seemed to be enjoying it. She didn’t feel heavy on my back but it was warm for both of us. We will do longer rides when it is cooler or we get an earlier start.
I made it through a very stressful situation when I was told by the pharmacy that my health care insurance was cancelled. Anyone that knows me well knows that I have made all my job transition decisions being very conscious of having continuous health insurance. Because of the way government works, I did have a 10 day gap between Pfizer and NIH which made me very nervous. I made sure I would be able to continue with my health insurance before I made the decision to retire from the government. So WTF happened? Well after I officially retired, I worked for 2 months as a annuitant (essentially a contractor). I resigned from that on March 31st. the payroll system saw a resignation on March 31st and health insurance is cancelled with resignations. Apparently the system or person did not connect the dots that you can only resign from an annuitant position if you have retired. When I heard cancelled, I went into “surgeon” mode because you don’t get to panic in the operating room. I drove home and sent a urgent email to Retirement Specialist. She contacted the health insurance company and got health insurance reinstated within 24 hours.
Carli continues to challenge me – just when I think I have something figured out, she changes the rules a bit. I found her spontaneously playing with something for the first time. She has shown ZERO interest in any of her borrowed or new toys but one evening she jumped up on my lap with a roll of her poop bags and had a great time knowing on them.
I am nearly finished reading Shondra Rhimes book Year of Yes and I highly recommend it. I think I was drawn to the title because I have been trying to say Yes to any opportunity that comes along. Her commitment to YES was much bigger and I hope I can use some of her experience to help me move forward.
Saying yes today got me to Cheekwood Estate and Gardens in Bell Meade (west of Nashville). Throughout the mansion and grounds there are art exhibits. Today I saw brightly colored lego animals of all sorts, crayon animal sculptures and a fascinating exhibit of William Edmundson limestone sculptures of tombstones and yard art. Mr. Edmondson was the first black person to have an exhibit in MOMA in 1937. He was called to sculpting during the depression after he lost his job as a janitor here in Nashville. Our visit was cut short by a thunderstorm which also rained out Sunday night cycling.
Much of my current social life is being provided by a young man I met on my first night of Wednesday night cycling. Danny is an extrovert; has 3 young kids and loves inviting people to do things with him and his kids. Last week was kayaking and this week was the gardens.
Tonight I finally opened my computer to do some work I promised to do and this is how Carli reacted:
She is now sleeping beside me and I am ready to join her.
Tamara Unleashed 