Thursday, August 25, 2016

Culture and CankerSores and Termites

I was sitting down to write about cultural things and I realized I don't have it in me tonight.  I need to feel sensitive and generous to broach that topic in a balanced and fair way. I feel tired more than sensitive and itchy more than generous, so I will wait to write a post on the challenges of providing care in an unfamiliar/different culture some other day. 

I will simply say that today I was the go between for a younger pregnant gal and her aunt while they fought about whether or not the pregnant woman took the antibiotics I gave her last Thursday. It was animated and loud with many sweeping arm motions -  as the drama unfolded it was fairly amazing and I was supposed to take a side - without knowing if she did or did not take the meds. 

I hope I picked the right one.

Later, I was the buffer between a new mom that did not want the dad of the baby to hold the baby because his family is not nice to her so I was instructed to say that our rules and regulations don't allow dad to hold the baby.  

Good times, I tell you, good times.  

The other never-ending situation at the Maternity Center that is aiming to take us all down, is the fight with plumbing. The bathrooms got cosmetic facelifts.  They look nice. The new tile is lovely. They just don't really do the things you might generally want a bathroom to do.  

If you only want to look at it, you're going to be very pleased. If you need to USE it, well, that's another story.

As it turns out the people we hired to redo our bathrooms apparently don't have more pluming experience than, oh, I don't know, let's say Lydia.  If you have never hired an untrained 8 year old to do your plumbing, you're smarter (or luckier) than us.  It seems like every day as the guys come and work on it, "fixing the problems", things get worse - not better.  Troy likes to remind me, do not assume conspiracy when incompetence explains everything. 

Since it appears that I cannot be super nice tonight, let us change topics.

Looking at the tabs open on my laptop I see that since Sunday I have researched and read extensively about:  Harriet Tubman, Canker sores, Generation X and Millennials, and Termites. 

These are not related topics, should that not be obvious to you.

Here is what I learned:

1. Harriet Tubman is the person I would most want to meet and have dinner with if I could choose any dead person to meet. Hands down, first choice. 
2. Canker sores are not herpes.  Paige calls any sore like that "Herps of the mouth" but technically Canker Sores are NOT herpes.  Just cold sores are.  Make a correction please, Paige.
3. I am Generation X - so is Troy - I of course figured this was the case but now my research has proven it truth. 
4. Paige and Britt are both Millennials  - then a 7 year gap that came after Paige and before Isaac means ... 
5. The rest of our kids are called "Generation Z"  - we don't know yet what thing will make their generation lame and useless like Gen X and Millennials, but wait for it, we will know soon. 
6. Termites are disgusting and when it rains they come out  - I learned this and it is NOT GOOD news because, yes, I see this all the time: "Two-winged termites, called “alates,” are often mistaken for flying ants and will show up after a great deal of precipitation. The presence of alates is a good indicator that termites have taken up residence in a home."  So there we have it.  "A GOOD INDICATOR" - that's perfect.

Earlier today Troy lectured me about my lack of breakfast and said that I really needed to eat better "at my age".  He lives somewhere else now, which is a bummer  -  because I have a significant termite problem and I need him.

This photo is the only one I took today. I love it so much.


 Nadege is loving on E. in the back of Prenatal Class -- she is DONE with this part but she's hanging out to offer her expertise to the masses. 😏 To quote my friend, Sharifa, "I cannot hold up under the glory of that sister's grin."