10 Ways That Being Insured has Benefitted Me (our Family)

Apparently, my blog was a bit like the Car Talk Puzzler, and took a bit of a summer holiday.  But, just as the cool air is returning to the North Country, I'm back.  

Ten Ways Being Insured Has Benefitted Me
1. My considerable "female problems" have all been covered - a number of surgeries - both major and minor.  Not a penny out of pocket.  Total cost must be over $100K.  (The hysterectomy alone was over $50K.)
2. I have had regular preventative medical care for my whole life.
3. My mom is a happy, healthy 83 year old because of good preventative medical care.
4. I was accident prone as a child.  All of my cuts were stitched up well - with a minimum of scarring. 
5. Our prescriptions are covered - we don't have to worry about whether we can afford them; we have no hard choices to make between our health and other necessitates like food, shelter, or clothing.
6. I am getting regular mammograms and pap smears as preventative measures.
7. We can afford for Michelle to receive some physical therapy for her hip.
8. I could get my bad crown redone - without going into debt.
9. I never worry about whether we will be able to afford medical things: office visits, illnesses, or even crises.
10. I've had good relationships with doctors because I could see them regularly.

The issue with all of this: our current health insurance plan costs St. Barnabas and the Diocese (who share the cost) $14,000, or so, a year.  This to insure two young and healthy adults.  This cost is out of reach for many families and employers.  Our current system is broken and needs repair, both to keep costs down for healthy adults (and businesses who employ them!) and to give healthcare to those who are currently without.

Water Feature

There's a little human-made pond in our back yard (right next to what seems like a very ill-placed fire pit).  Michelle dragged a pump out of the pond earlier this spring and has been doing some work to clean it up.  

Now the surprise peonies appeared right near the pond, so I've been paying some attention to the pond of late.  Tonight, when I came home, I checked immediately to see if the peony had bloomed.  [No, by the way.]  But, what I did discover is that today, Michelle got the pump hooked back up and now, our pond has a bit of a fountain.  Wow!  I've been very excited all evening about the working water feature.  Several times, I had to go hang out at the back door, just to watch the water.

Surprises

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, writing articles for the St. Barnabas newsletter, and the TV is on.  The rector's reflection begins talking about the surprises we're finding this spring in our garden and moves into the way life (powered by the Holy Spirit) often surprises us.  (I've included the full article at the end of this post.)

Mostly, I'm writing.  But occasionally, something on the television catches my attention.  Suddenly, I see a commercial for Orbitz.  Four guys are out golfing, when the Orbitz hovercraft lands, and hands them all (except for the guy who didn't use Orbitz) refund checks because their flight-prices went down.  I realized, as I was watching, that one of the guys was wearing a polo shirt with the logo for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization.  It was very clearly the logo above.

So, there I was, writing about surprise - being surprised.  Gayness.  Right there in the Orbitz commercial.  Subtle, sure, but there, nonetheless.  Yay for the Holy Spirit.  

Rector's Reflections: July 2009

Michelle and I arrived in Milan in mid-August.  By the time we arrived, the garden has mostly passed.  We (OK, she) built a couple of flower beds in the early fall, but we really had no idea what to expect around our yard.  The first surprise this spring has been the wild strawberries that pretty much dominate our front yard.  They are everywhere – yum!  The next surprise was the peony, behind the pond.  We had no idea it was there.  Now, we walk around the yard every few days, looking for the next big surprise.  What else is hidden amidst the trees, ferns, and grasses?  It’s always a miracle to me when seeds and bulbs come up out of the ground.  Being surprised by the unexpected is even more amazing.

And really, isn’t life a lot like this?  We think we know what to expect – from an encounter, a meeting, or some project we take on.  But, just like the garden, life is full of surprises.  The Holy Spirit is full of surprises! The thing about the Holy Spirit and surprises is that we need to be open to them.  If we’re not looking, not paying attention, we can miss them. 

This month, I invite you to be on the lookout.  The Holy Spirit is abroad in the world, shaking up life on a regular basis.  You never know where you’ll find a peony or conversation that will knock your sox off.  

The Abandoned House and the Irises

There's an abandoned house up the road from our house.  Technically, it's for sale, but no one lives there, and it appears to be in pretty dire condition.  It's tipping pretty dramatically; a stiff wind would probably blow it over.  The yard is a wild tangle.  It's filled with ferns, brambles, and tall grass.

Tonight, when I was walking Birdie, I noticed the irises. There's a large iris bed ringing the front part of the property, filled with the lovely dark purple variety, packed in cheek by jowl. (Or would that be leaf by stem?)  Irises are my favorite flowers, so that's probably what really caught my attention.  But, after I noticed them, I spent the walk home thinking about the irises and the house.

Who planted them?  What happened to the people who owned the house?  Was there a time when the house and yard were well loved and cared for?  I had a lovely little day dream, imagining someone planting the bulbs, lovingly.  

Planting is such a vote for the future.  Larry and I were talking about how to establish an asparagus bed today.  It's a significant investment in time and a belief in the future.  But really, that's true of any planting.  Putting seeds, or vegetables, flowers, or trees in the ground is a statement of belief in the future.  

I imagine that the planter of the irises had no idea what would happen to his/her house.

Seen by the roadside

I have not appreciated the deer and the moose statuary.  Living in places where encounters on the road with the real thing can range from dangerous to deadly, I've found the statues of deer and moose people have in their yards startling.  I've mistaken the statue for the real thing, heart thumping and nerves jangling, on more than one occasion.

Yesterday, though, I saw one that made me laugh out loud.

This family had taken one of those life-sized deer statues, placed it near the road, and then dressed it in pirate garb.  There was the deer with a bandana on its head, eye patch, striped shirt, and cigarette hanging out of it's mouth.  It cracked me up!  I wished I'd had the time to stop and snap a pic.

15 Books that Stick with Me

I've noticed that the memes that appeal to me the most are the ones that are book related.  I had lunch this week with a new friend, and talk turned to work histories.  My friend was not remotely surprised to learn that I'd spent twelve years managing a bookstore.  He saw my passion for books and reading in our interactions (and we've got a great novel swap happening at the moment!)  

The challenge: choose fifteen books that continue to stick with you.  Feel free to say why they've stuck or not.  Stick with you, of course, is totally open to personal interpretation.  For me, these are the books I come back to again and again.  Something about the book captured me.  These are in no particular order, by the way.  

1. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name ~ A Biomythography by Audre Lorde. I read this shortly after I came out and shortly after Lorde's death.  I felt like I was learning some of my history. I re-read it periodically.  I love Lorde's voice.

2. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott.  This was the first book by Lamott that I read.  I fond myself laughing out loud.  And, her advice on writing and life is spot on.

3. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  Pollan's book about food, what we eat, and how we eat has changed how I look at food (and sometimes) how I eat.

4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.  Barbara Kingsolver is my favorite novelist.  This is certainly my favorite novel.  I'm a sucker for multiple voices, and this is so well done.

5. Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy.  I'm also a huge Piercy fan.  This is another multiple voice novel, set in and around World War II.  Piercy's characterization is amazing.

6. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  Atwood is yet another favorite writer.  This classic fable shows what could happen when theocracy is brought to an extreme.

7. Watership Down by Richard Adams.  I first read this one in junior high.  I've re-read it several times since.  Adams makes a world where animals think, talk, and order society seem possible.

8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.  I'm a huge fan of the series, but I think this one is my favorite.  (Mind you, this could change at any given moment!) Dumbledore's mentoring of Harry is wonderful to watch (and the ending, completely unexpected, at least by me).  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be my other choice for favorite in the series.  I love it when good triumphs.

9. The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.  The first time I read this novel (set in the future, time travel is possible, historians use it to study events in history) I was on a business trip.  The novel was so gripping I resented every time I had to leave my hotel room and stop reading.

10. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson.  This is the newest book on my Top 15 list.  It taught me so much about what is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it gives me hope for the future.  I give it away as often as I can.  I also donate to the Central Asia Institute.

11. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien.  I tried to read The Hobbit several times as a kid.  I hated it.  I gave up.  When the movies came out, I tried again, and started with The Fellowship of the Ring and I was totally drawn in.  Now I've read the repeatedly.

12. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich.  Ehrenreich, an investigative jounralist, goes under cover in three minimum-wage jobs: a housecleaner, a waitress, and a worker at Wal-Mart.

13. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is a hard novel to read.  But it also gives a glimpse into women's lives in Afghanistan.  I was haunted (and continue to be) by it.

14. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I read this series over and over again as a kid.  In the 4th grade, I had gingham dresses and a sunbonnet.  As young adults, Marie and I took the Laura Ingalls Wilder tour in South Dakota.  I still have a soft spot in my heart for these books.  

15. Roots by Alex Haley.  I read it first on an educational challenge in 6th grade.  My social studies teacher was looking for a project that might challenge me, so she suggested it.  She had to get my parents' permission for me to read it for her class.  I was a sheltered little white girl living in a monochromatic town.  This novel opened my eyes to other realities.

Memorial Day Weekend in Milan

We spent Memorial Weekend creating our new gardens.  On Saturday, we build our new bed.  On Sunday, we hauled soil.  We'd had 5 cubic yards of topsoil delivered, but because of the lay of our property, the dump truck had to dump it farther than we would have liked.  Today, we filled the other small beds with soil and then planted all of the beds.  

The largest bed (from right to left) is: tomatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, beans, peas, zucchini squash, acorn squash, and then space for potatoes and onions.

The left-hand small bed has chives, salad greens, spinach, and cilantro.  The right small bed has oregano, two kinds of basil, and parsley.  We also planted six tubs of patio tomatoes, which are on the deck.  Oh, and we added some annuals to our mini flower garden.  When it was done, we took Birdie for a ride and picked some rocks, to add to Michelle's repairs to the pond.  

I'm sore and tired, but I'm also really contented.  Mostly, my work isn't physical; it's far more cerebral.  I found working physically hard very satisfying.  And, I'm already anticipating a summer of fresh veggies.  Michelle is cautious, calling this a test year for the garden.   I'm hopeful.