April 2011
1 post
Special Ed
In 1984, I took my 4-year-old son, Josh, with me to drop off his registration paperwork for kindergarten. As I entered the office, I noticed quite a few unopened computer boxes stacked along the wall. As we were waiting our turn in the busy office, a teacher walked through and asked the secretary, “Are those the computers for ‘Special Ed.’?” Just then, Josh perked up and exclaimed with a big...
March 2011
1 post
Dad and the Roll Top Desk
My father, Merrill B. Scott, M.D., died unexpectedly 17 years ago today. This poem expresses merely one facet of a brilliant and loving man. Miss you, dad.
Dad and the Roll Top Desk
Eager, I toddle into the study,
where dad does his figuring
at the tall oak roll top desk.
I creep under the secretary
he has extended, looking up
into brown eyes of love, regarding
me softly over the...
February 2011
1 post
Molasses Taffy
Pulling molasses taffy takes strong arms, I know.
I smell the glossy goodness, animated ooze.
Mom tugs and cuts with agility and grace,
While I wrap with crinkled paper and wait for my taste.
Gathering vibrant flowers takes discerning eyes, I know.
Mindful of gardener’s treasure, Mom helps me choose.
Beauties for teacher, we delight in generosity a while.
While I truss bouquet with foil and wait...
May 2010
2 posts
No Mere ‘Coinkydink’
Albert Einstein once said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” As much as my dad respected Einstein, he would insist that one slight alteration be made, and that it be designated a ‘coinkydink’, as that was the way he coined the term. After much reading, I am convinced that Einstein believed, as I do, that there is no such thing as a ‘coinkydink’, which means that God must...
April 2010
2 posts
Missing My Dad
I miss my dad. I don’t miss him every day or in all situations, but there are times when I wish I could pick up the phone and call him. Maybe that’s because he’d always answered every one of my questions to my satisfaction. He was honest, direct and if I didn’t understand, he’d come around from a different angle until I did.
I remember the semester I was returning to college after missing...
The Butterfly With Steel Toed Boots
Last week I experienced something new in the life of one relatively initiated in medical happenings: atrial fibrillation followed by electrical cardioversion. If you are interested in the technical rundown on this acute diagnosis, be my guest and ‘Google’ it, but I want to tell you that for me, it felt as though the gentle butterfly who normally flits around my heart, had decided to don tiny...
February 2010
2 posts
EUPHONIOUSNESS
Today is my Mother’s 78th birthday and if I was still a little girl, and would ask her, ‘Mommy, what can I buy you for your birthday?’ she would say, ‘Honey, you don’t need to buy me anything. You can make me something, because that would mean more to me.’ I am no longer a little girl who finger-paints and makes macaroni necklaces, but I can write, so I have decided to compose a present for you,...
January 2010
1 post
HAVING YOUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO
I would say that most people learn best by experiencing things first hand, rather than by reading them in a book or by having someone else relay the information, but there are some challenges that are difficult to be undertaken, for various reasons. Take skydiving, for example. Besides the technical training it would require to accomplish a successful dive, the fear of falling to my death could...
November 2009
1 post
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Mom. Since this is...
October 2009
2 posts
QUIDDITIES
Today is my best friend Debbie’s birthday, whom I have known for nearly 30 years, and a while back, we decided to dispense with swapping gifts, although we still agree to share trips together, since we are both autumn babies and enjoy traveling, especially to Maine in the fall, when the Maple trees turn vibrant colors so amazing that it almost whisks your breath away. We also give each other our...
TAPESTRY
Today is my 49th birthday and instead of approaching the onset of advancing years with dread, like so many women I know, I feel thankful to have made it this far, since I have narrowly escaped death twice, once in 1983 and the most recent at the end of 2007.
I had decided recently that in gratitude for my life, I would do something new this year and give myself a birthday present, one from the...
September 2009
3 posts
LANCE-A-LOT
LANCE-A-LOT
Even today, I can see my poor Mother, herself a registered nurse and definitely a rule follower, dutifully taking all four of us girls on the trip to Dr. Mon Pere’s office. We all had bulging eardrums ready to rupture; each our own version of searing pain, due to advancing infections. Earlier in the day, each of us girls, all about three years apart in age, had been complaining...
June 2009
4 posts
MY DAD MEMORIES
My Dad, Merrill B. Scott, MD., was a wonderful man. He was a brilliant man, earning degrees in Business (Accounting) with high honors; Engineering; Physics; Biology (as a Premed requisite); he earned a Medical Degree with honors, specialties in Radiology and Diagnosis. Those are not the things that make him a great man to me, however, and they are not the memories that I hold of him now, 15...
A FATHER'S LOVE
They say that you perceive God’s love in the same way as you do your father’s. I do.
My earliest memory of my father was at three years old. We had recently moved into a two story house with a tile stairway. Dad was always reminding us how slippery it was, but this day, he headed down the stairs in stocking feet and bounced his tailbone down every step. When he finally landed, I came right over...
ONLY SUPERDAD WILL DO
In honor of Father’s Day, I have asked my husband to contribute to my blog, his thoughts about my father, Merrill B. Scott, who we lost unexpectedly on March 31, 1994. The following is his contribution:
Why is Superdad called that, instead of Grandpa or Grampy or Pa-Pa or any other nickname that a grandchild might call their grand dad? It happened this way. When Susan and I got married...
May 2009
2 posts
DAVID AND HIS HAPPY GENE
I’ll admit that most women in my position would be happy about the news, but I just cried. Not that I didn’t love babies, (I already had a boy and a girl that I adored), I just hated the idea of being pregnant again, since for me, being ‘with child’ meant nine months of constant nausea and daily throwing up so violently, that the capillaries in my eyes would sometimes burst, giving me a black eye...
AMBIDEXTROSITY
I have been thinking about Moms and of course, my Mom, and what makes her special to me, since it is Mother’s Day and the time for that type of reflection. It may sound incongruous, but the thing that comes to mind, is that my Mom is the first person I ever knew that was ambidextrous. I do not mean that she can sign her name with either hand, though she might have that ability, (I have never...
April 2009
11 posts
PARACHUTES
WORD OF MY BREATH
The other day my Mom emailed me the story of a former Vietnam Vet that touched me. This man was a fighter pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam by a Surface to Air Missile. He deployed his parachute, which carried him safely to the ground, but was subsequently captured by the Vietcong, and held in one of their prison camps for 6 years. Since his return and recovery, he...
GRIPTION
WORD OF MY BREATH
“This is NOT working! I can’t get any GRIPTION on this bed at all!” I insisted, as I reached the peak in another contraction at the Fresno Community Hospital Labor and Delivery Room on August 10, 1987. My weary coach and husband, Jeff was trying to figure out what I was talking about, but after 8 years of marriage, he had gotten used to my inventing words when I was too...
BANDAIDS
WORD OF MY BREATH
The other day, I sat down to play my piano. My typical routine is to warmup and then as I am able, I press on into what I call the ‘zone’, where I close my eyes and try to feel my way through a melody that I have composed. As I continue, the sounds become increasingly fluid and I sense the fact that I am making music with all of my being; each of my fingers are cooperating, my...
FOCUS
WORD OF MY BREATH
A few days ago I went to the Pulmonologist for a specialized breathing test in preparation for a Bronchoscopy and had an epiphany of sorts. I had already met Dr. Gill at a previous appointment, liked him and judged him to be a competent practician in his field.
I was ushered into a room by a gentle East Indian woman who sat me down in front of a large computer screen. The...
UPCHUCK
WORD OF MY BREATH
Now, if my Dad was reading my blog, the timing of this word would be perfect, because every April 15, was not his favorite day of the year, and he would have approved of this particular selection of the day. Perhaps some of you agree. However, that is not why I choose the word, upchuck.
Today, I choose this word, and it is all my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ogburn’s fault,...
SERENITY
WORD OF MY BREATH
This is the celebration of my first son Joshua’s 29th birthday, and if it was his earlier birthdays, I might be writing about the word, regret; not because now I would ever regret that God chose me to be his mother, or that I had him when I was only 19, which I admit was probably too young, but because I was not able to be the mother that he needed me to be, at the time he...
PERKS
WORD OF MY BREATH
My sister, Leslie, has worked in Human Resources for years, and she can tell you that often a person seeking employment will be just as interested in the perks, as they are in the base salary for their prospective position, especially as they move up the ladder in a particular corporation. Perks are incidental benefits awarded for certain types of employment. Sometimes they...
SIGNIFICANCE
One of the pivotal inquiries of a life’s relevancy is the matter of significance and the scarcity of its observance will cause a person to doubt their self worth. In a world as immense as the one we live in, this can be a formidable task; standing out in a sea of others whom are all trying to stand out as well. Everyone struggles with the issue of significance, and the other day, I learned a...