Gonna whine a bit today. The month of May was a doozy: between Mom and me we had three doctors' appointments, a mammogram, and assorted Xrays and bloodwork. Time spent traveling, time spent waiting in doctors' lobbies--where you sit sometimes for two hours, listening to people talk about how they have this ailment, or a cousin died of that one, or this one has that plus another, or that one has BOTH plus another--

I have a vivid imagination. By the time I'm taken back to an exam room I have all the symptoms of EVERYTHING I heard about in the lobby. And the doctor wonders why my pulse is racing.

Yesterday PM our little chest freezer gave up the ghost (I cannot think why--it was only fifteen years old) so I had to make a trip to find another before Lowe's closed--

In short, this has not been our month or six weeks.

This AM Mom had to have one more Xray--hopefully this will be the last for awhile--but we get home and we're both cranky as hell. So we put classical music on the satellite (Chopin at the moment), she's doing a find-a-word, and I went online and began looking for quiet places. I can look at a picture sometimes and go away there in my mind, and all settles--my pulse, my stomach, and my stressed soul.

I have a love for all things green, so this picture called to me. All that moss, all those trees, and still water. If I close my eyes I can feel the moss under my feet as I sit with my back against a tree; I can hear the wind stirring in the leaves over my head; I can feel the coolness of water as I trail my fingers in the pool.

I'm sure there's some word to describe that--Azron, if you're out there, would it not be something like visualization?--Anyway, it's working. The longer I look, the calmer and more centered I feel. Could almost nap in my little hiding place, even though it's only a picture.

And on that fantastic notion, fair thee well.