Goofin' off

This is my darling friend, Helene Ryesky. Oh, did we have fun together. We went on a walk in the little woods beyond her house where Upper Dublin has made a park of it. We stood on a little bridge over a babbling creek and she said, Look at this, Ruthie, look how beautiful!

I went over to her and looked down into the little creek with the autumn leaves spread out down below and said, You missed your chance to marry me long ago.

Neither of us knew what I was talking about, but we really did.

She wanted some help moving her flowers on the deck. We lifted, we tugged, we pulled, but it still wasn't right so I said, Let your next visitor figure it out. All the while I was munching on two pieces of licorice from Trader Joe's she keeps in the dining room.

Driving home I was exhausted and thought, It's probly my darn kidney disease that makes me so tired. And then I remembered....new kidney on the horizon.

Somewhere at this very moment, a stranger is headed toward death. Most likely he and I will eventually meet up. The poor fellow tho shall be quite stone dead and I shall have a new lease on life.

I am not mentally prepared to have a transplant. I kept calling up Nurse Paige today with questions like How long will I be in the hospital after surgery? (5 to 7 days). What if I get psychotic from the prednisone? (they'll give you something) Will I have any dietary restrictions w/my new kidney? (no grapefruit)

Guest what I had for breakfast this morning? Ripe red grapefruit. Mmmmm.

I give myself ultimatums. Was driving rapidly thru a 25 mph zone. What if the punishment for going above the speed limit was 'death by hanging?' Would I still drive over the limit?

What if my kidney donor was a serial killer?

These fun questions are part of my fun mind.

So. We had our Giant meeting this morning. Good turnout. Mandy and Helen do a better job than I do, which is really what you want in leaders. When it came my turn to speak I told em about the kidney transplant.

There's a possibility, I said, it's very small, but there's a possibility I might die and we've all got to be aware of it. Mandy paid sharp attention. "What dyou want us to do? Tell us what you want us to do?"

Just continue what you're doing, I said. Everything's going great! I looked over at Mike and told him his hiking group is a real plus.

Then one woman starts whining. Three times she mentions she doesn't want me to die.

What dyou say?

Then we started getting existential. By now Helen had joined us. She's a good one for the existential element. We started talking about:

- it's meant to be
- there are no coincidences
- Dr Phil says there's no accidents

Well Janie busts out saying that's a lot of hogwash. Her grown son died for no reason at all.

We had a nice give n take about God. Mandy said she's searching and doesn't have a clue. That's good, I said, search around, you may never find the answer, but go ahead and search.

I mentioned the Buddhist temple in Bensalem on Knights Road.



Now, it's no accident that I think I'm hot shit. "Hot stuff, eh?" my friend Bill Cardinale used to say when he was alive and pumping. But as alive and alert and eyes wide open that I am, I was still in shock after I got word this a.m. that I'm on The List for a transplant.

This really calls for a good song to celebrate. Join me in.....