A year and a half ago my mother was notified that she had an aortic aneurysm, a discovery made by a radiologist while looking for something else. These aneurysms are like a ‘run’ in women’s hosiery; not a big problem in their small form but when they finally give way, the hosiery is useless and has to be discarded. In any event, surgical repair isn’t recommended (based upon certain risk factors) until the aneurysm reaches a specific length so the doctor does periodic monitoring until the decision is made to repair the tear. I insisted that she not trust...
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Godparents are assigned to you, based upon their relationship with your parents, as sort of a backup team that can come in off the bench if any of the starters are injured or taking a leave of absence. In general, the system makes sense. Parenting is a full-time, hands-on job that can be interrupted by the unknown and children don’t do real well with the unknown. Oh no! Mom’s on crack! The coach signals the bench and, boom, you’ve covered. (Note: hypothetical scenario for instructional purposes only) Again, you’re in no age-shape to make these decisions so the hope...
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I wish I had an answer to that question, because the nature of my patriarchal lineage is somewhat of a mystery and not by my own choice. My biological father (hereafter known as father #1) left us when I was 1 year old and so, for the most part, I was unaware of him in my life until he showed up out of the blue one day when I was 10. He was a curious figure, revealed so suddenly and unexpected, and I did what little me pretty much always did and that’s to observe, suck it all in...
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That relatively modest sized globe rotating upon my shoulders is the planet I have resided on my entire life. To a larger extent it’s Earth, but for any practical purpose the machinery that dominates my thoughts, emotions, antics and general aspirations all occurs in my head. Really, it should have its own address. Perhaps I can blame the problem of ‘living in my head’ on my station as an only-child but that’s likely only part of the cause since I’m sure there are plenty of well-adjusted, well-socialized only-children thriving in the world. That’s just a guess and maybe we’re...
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