Interesting day...

Well today was the official first day back to work. I arrived promptly at 8:15 armed and ready with my roll of contact paper. After rearranging furniture with the custodian last week, the rusty, tan-ish, dented tall 4 drawer filing cabinet is in plain sight from the hallway. So I picked a neutral white and tan swirl pattern and said, "In 15 minutes, we'll have this thing looking new again!" Yeah, about that...an hour and half later, top and two sides are completed. Very long piece in in the trash can after two sticky sides met each other on the way to the cabinet. And I have miscellaneous 'tan-ish' color still showing on the front. Hmmm, did you know it is very hard to put paper on the front of the drawers? The handle and thumb pull get in the way. Did you know that is doesn't tuck in neatly where the drawers slide in and out? Did you know there is a 1/4 inch strip under each drawer that you can barely get paper on? Did you know that it will bubble then crease right in the middle of your 4 foot piece on the side? Did you know that you can wast an hour and half placing contact paper on a cabinet. Thanks to me, now you know. So what was supposed to be a productive two hours, turned into...not so much. Why two hours? Read on.

Thinking, we do it all the time, and sometimes, we really concentrate on it. We review our positions on political issues, the environment, religion, children, our relationships, work, lifetime goals, our happiness. Ahhh, the freedom of thought. I did alot of "free" thinking when I was awaiting the twins.

But what do you think about when you are "forced" to think. When you are in a position that if you don't think about something, you might go crazy?? I had a chance to figure that out today. Today I had an MRI, on my hip. Total time in the machine, about 35 minutes. For those of you who haven't had one, yes it is a very small tube. Mine had openings at both ends, I could see day-light and I really didn't feel claustrophobic. But the noise, it was terrible, can't quite describe it, but some of the tones just made my insides hurt. Thus the thinking. I knew if I didn't keep my mind busy, all I would think about was the noise and that wasn't going to turn out well. They give you a rubber ball to hold onto and say, "Squeeze this if you want to stop the test." There ended up being about 9 sessions lasting from 1 1/2 minutes up to 5 1/2 minutes, but I didn't know that ahead of time. At first I just thought about relaxing, "stay calm, you are doing great, breathe in, breathe out." Then I began to think about what would I do if it turned out I needed surgery...no can't even go there, wait for the test to come back first. I was good for the first 1 1/2 minutes. "This next session is for 4 minutes" Ok, I'll need kick the mind in gear now. So start thinking, come on, just do it, anything, and I couldn't believe it, at first I had nothing!!! I mean nothing came to mind. How crazy is that. Then:
1. apples, bananas, pineapple, lemons, limes, cucumbers, lettuce, etc, all the food in the produce section
2. I tried to picture something I did each day in Paris when I visited when I was 15
3. I tried to picture each of the rooms in the townhouse Darrin and I first lived in after we got married. We had a snack in our room before bed almost every night. I remembered when Steve Beatty was visiting and he actually left and stood outside because we were dancing to our Sounds of the Seventies CD and he was embarrassed!
4. I thought of as many classrooms and teachers I had had in high school
5. I thought about the trip Darrin and I took to Ludington, Crystal Lake and Petosky the spring after we met. We stayed in a triangle-shaped hotel room!
6. I began listing every student on my caseload, their grade and what they were working on.
7. I said some prayers to help me stay calm
8. I recalled dancing at the local dance joint in St John's Virgin Islands, Art's Bar, eating at Asolar restaurant, and driving on the wrong side of the road!
9. I listed all the states I have visited, Hawaii, California, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan
Then I realized I had to go to the bathroom and that's ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT! Thank goodness the next thing I heard was "There is only one more and it will be 3 1/2 minutes." All that time to think and the 'problems of the world' never came up. Funny how that works.

Regarding the MRI, I have been having pain in my hip since mid July and they are ruling out a labral tear in my hip muscle. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

And then I went back to work, and no I didn't finish the filing cabinet. I rearranged my therapy materials instead!

Cathy