The Best of All Times

Sometimes life is just funny. You're sitting there in your roller coaster seat enjoying the scenery when the lights dim and your little canoe slides gently into a dark tunnel. Your ears prick up and you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

Okay, I love the drama, don't you? What happened to me this week was that I found out that I have a 4 cm paraganglioma that has to come out. Surgery scheduled, plans rearranged and scuttled, major turbulence. Lots of opportunity for deep thoughts and examination of priorities.

Lots of lovingly talking to my carotid artery and vagus nerve where the mump has taken up residence. Always carry your iPhone with you into the doctor's office so you can get cool shots of your CAT scans and such for your journal. You can use them again on Dia De Los Muertos. I think my skeleton is very beautiful. I just stare at it and try to grasp the miracle of how our bodies do all that they do.

You wouldn't believe how much time you can burn reading everything any doctor has ever written concerning your malady. That's how I operate. Go online and scare yourself silly imagining all that could go wrong.

I've raised 2 daughters just like me so we get a good flap going in the hen house and then eventually settle ourselves down. It could always be worse. It could always even be worse than that.

My friend Paula McNamee turned me onto this; Rollataq adhesive. When she described it I couldn't imagine how it worked but now that I've tried it I love it, especially for gluing larger sheets of paper in my journal. It is much cleaner and faster than the gel I usually use and you don't have to swish out a brush afterward or clean the gel off your finger.

Look what's getting ready to pop just outside my front door. I'm bringing these in now to force in the warm studio; I'm headed in there now to amuse myself painting on cardboard and plaster. Only 2 more pages to go in the face book -yay! I'll check in again soon.