Tuesday, May 13, 2014

A Perfect Storm and Pacifism

Pleasant spring day--finally warm and sunny, so nice.  Betty and I got up about the same time, had coffee, then I left for my 6:45 mammogram appointment.  She was to meet me there--at Atlantic Imaging on Jimmie Leeds Road--then we'd go for breakfast.
Turned out to be one of those perfect storm situations:  I hadn't left quite on time, ran into traffic on the parkway, got behind a school bus that stopped every five feet (and, considering how sl-o-o-w-ly the student pickups schlepped in, they must all have been the kind who shoot up in the lavatory).  The upshot was, I was late and they took somebody else in before me.
Damn! I'm notorious for being early for everything and I get agitated when I'm not at least on time.  Whipped out my phone to call Betty and tell her to come later and--it was dead.  It's a TracPhone, the least expensive, nothing fancy about it (it doesn't take pictures), and suits me fine.  However, I had forgotten to buy minutes and it ran out.
Double damn!  I'm afraid that, to some extent, I took my frustration out on the very pleasant receptionist, a white-haired old lady (ha! probably ten years my junior)--but I completed the paperwork, was finally taken in, got the procedure, and was outta there by 7:20.
Hey, okay.  Decided to drive down to Shop-Rite on the corner and buy a phone card; did so, after being misdirected by somebody to its location--more gnashing of teeth.  When I got back to the facility, poor Betty was standing outside, bewildered as to why I wasn't there, but I drove up, she followed me to the restaurant, we had a good breakfast, parted, I went home, that was that, and I don't know why in the hell I had to write all this down.
Moving right along:  Did lots of wash, washed, chopped, and otherwise prepared a big salad, sliced up zucchini for the crock pot, changed the guest room bed, and otherwise busied myself on a glorious spring day.  
Drove to the Manahawkin Shop-Rite for various items (including mango water ice--I have no character), enjoyed new pictures of precious Tokyo Tot on Google +, and finished up a few things.     Called Leslie and invited her down to chat.  She came, she stayed for several hours, we sat on the porch with iced tea, and we talked and talked and talked.
It's so refreshing--more than the cold drink, more than the relaxation, even more than the benign weather--to exchange thoughts and ideas with a kindred spirit.  Leslie refuses to submit to the idea that military "service" is somehow noble, that those who enlist are "fighting for our freedoms" (odious phrase!), or that the ones who engineer the worldwide slaughter are worthy of even a modicum of respect.  Les isn't militant about it, not nearly as much as I am and I'm no Joan of Arc, but in her quiet way, she personifies pacifism.
Les stayed until after 4:00, we said goodbye, and I put two chicken legs in the oven, had them for din-din, and that was my good, active, varied day.
Gee, this is a long post.  Of course, my glamorous life is so fascinating, I'm sure I constantly leave my readers hungry for more, and I don't want to disappoint, so...  ZZZ--hey, wake up!  

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