Being On The Other Side

I've been to the hospital plenty of times in my life to visit people, but there is something incredibly odd about walking into the hospital on your own, being shown to a room and then five minutes later finding yourself appearing the part of an invalid. I have to say that aside from a few giggles prior to being taken down to pre-op I held it together pretty well. Again, there is just something disturbing about walking into the hospital on your own and coming out worse than when you went in.

I will say that the people who work at the Monroe Clinic are amazing, wonderful, and incredibly kind. There wasn't a single person I encountered who appeared to be tired or who seemed to be having just another day at work. They were all generous with their time, kind with their words and all had an incredibly genuine smile to give me. I think even Dean was impressed and he's the guy who lives to hate hospitals. Their kindness made it seem not quite so ridiculous that I'd spent a bit over an hour in a car just to get there. It also made me feel much better about my decision to remain with Dr. Martin when I get pregnant. Sure it's a long way to drive when you're having a baby, but the doctor and hospital are phenomenal. How could we choose differently?

Today I am feeling like I've been run over by a golf cart (something my husband can relate to) and I'm a lot more sore than I really wanted to be, but I am ok. I'm amazed at how tired I am and my seemingly insatiable ability to sleep, something I've rarely, if ever, experienced in my life. I'm also considering taking Monday off of work. I doubt anyone would think twice of me doing such a thing and quite frankly, I doubt I'll be able to stay awake the entire day. Even on Tuesday I'll have a hard time though my student teacher will be doing all of the work. Crazy lucky I managed to tack one of those on this semester, eh?

Well, here's hoping Tuesday brings a much more energetic and less painful me.

I'm Just Not that Into It

There has been quite a bit of silence from me this month on the blog and the truth is that I'm just not that into it. Normally I'm a bit more reflective about the world around me. Granted, I internalize it all to make sense out of it so all of the posts are about me in one shape or form, but lately life has been just about me.... and I'm not that into sharing. So excuse the lack of posts, I'm sure no one out there is particularly thrilled when I write a new one anyway so it's not a huge tragedy.

"They're Heeere"

As a child, few words probably instilled more fear in me than those in the title of this post. Poltergeist was the pinnacle of frightening, the horror of horror, the worst possible thing that could happen to you. I remember barely being able to keep my eyes open through the movie, and what child didn't come away from it scarred for life when it came to clown dolls? I can safely say I would still never put one in MY house and I'm now an adult of 30. This past summer I had the opportunity to watch Poltergeist again for the first time in at least twenty years. As with most things from childhood it now seemed hokey and I couldn't believe I'd ever been so afraid of such a movie. Granted, the people in the movie were strange and kind of creepy as actors go, but all in all the movie entertained me in the sense of "gosh, how I was ever afraid of this?"

As an "adult," the above experience is far too common for me. Things I held in high esteem as a kid or thought were incredibly wonderful and exotic are now commonplace and dull. There have been many times when I've wished I could recapture that youthful awe and fascination with the world that so consumed me when I was younger. This desire is probably why I love wind farms. It's true, I have a completely irrational love of the things. I squeal with delight and slow the car down and contemplate the best way to get as close as possible to them.

To me, they're majestic and peaceful. These large, graceful structures are proof of mankind's ability to make wise decisions about the way we use the Earth's resources. Not only that, but they're large and dot the landscape in an eerie, almost science-fiction manner. It's reminiscent of the future world I envisioned when I thought about the future as a small child. When I see them, I get that old feeling again, the wonder and the amazement and if I let myself I can even feel a bit of fear wondering what would happen if you were near them during a tornado... and let's face it, we all enjoy a bit of movie-theater fear once in a while.

So this past weekend, I again squealed with delight as I passed the new windfarm in JoDaviess county which is fast becoming my favorite wind farm due to their incredibly close proximity with Stage Coach Trail. No need to go out of my way to see these up close! There is a sense of pride too, knowing the area in which I grew up, houses these structures I hold in such high esteem. My only fear is that some local will fill me in on the politics behind them, as I'm not stupid enough to think they put them in there without some of the locals raising a stink and I definitely don't want politics to ruin one of the few things in the world that enable to recapture my childhood wonder.