Happiness Is

Sometimes our lives get so frantic and busy that we don’t know if we are coming or going. Many of us have tension filled jobs that leave us wiped out at the end of the day. We are always so busy in between our jobs, and sometimes on our jobs, with blogs, journals, diaries, Tweeter, e-mail, etc. Many of us are fighting political battles, trying to get health care reform, repeal DTDA, etc. that there is little time left over for anything else. Sometimes we need a little reminder of what happiness is and how easy it is to spread to others and how it can give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

My mother has a sister in her 90s. Aunt Bird is one of the loveliest people in the world. She never has a harsh word for anyone. She has volunteered in soup kitchens and schools. My Mom and brother went up to see her last Sunday. I was battling a nasty virus infection that left me too physically wiped out to try and make the 1½ hour trip. I had been working on a photo album for Aunt Bird because she loves flowers. When I went to digital photography 3 years ago I concentrated on nature photography to see what I could accomplish in that field. I went through all the photos stored on my computer and printed out about 250 of the ones I liked the best. Mom took the album up to her sister.

Yesterday was one of those days from hell at work. I came home just wiped out with a massive headache forming. At my place was a note from my Aunt. It read:

Dear Michele:
Thank you so much for the lovely scrap book. You are undoubtedly the very best photographer
in the world. I’ve never seen more vivid pictures,
Love Aunt Bird
P.S. I missed seeing you. Please get well and come next time.

Wow. All the stress from the day just melted as my eyes filled with tears of joy. The headache that was forming went away. A simple little thank you and knowing I was loved and my work appreciated was all it took to make a bad day a good one. I think it is such a wonderful life lesson to learn. Sometimes the little things are all it takes to make someone’s day. When you spread some joy to others it also makes you feel good.

There is Nothing Humana About Humana

Last year our hospital changed its insurance to Humana. We have had nothing but problems ever since. They changed the rates when we renewed in September. Now if you want to see your long time personal physician s/he better be affiliated with the hospital or you are paying over $2,500.00 in extra fees for the privilege. For those of us peons that is a hell of a lot of extra money. Of course that doesn’t count all the regular fees and co-pays and deductibles. These are extra fees tacked on.

We were promised that our benefits would be the same in spite of the fact that we are paying more for Humana. We were promised there would be no problems in getting our bills paid. What a joke. Over half the hospital is now facing having our bills classified as “pre-existing”! I got really ill and was close to blacking out a few weeks ago. The hospital considered this an emergency. Humana is investigating “pre-existing”.

Everyone was promised that we would be covered like we were under our old plan which means pre-existing does not apply. Humana is trying to weasel out of a lot of payments while continuing to charge us higher rates. There is nothing human about Humana. The sooner we have health care reform and a strong public option the better. Put me down as wanting the government run insurance.

Magic Words

When I was growing up I heard “what’s the magic words” frequently. You still hear parents today saying that in an effort to teach their children how to say please and thank you. An article I read many year ago had an impact on my life. It was how to say thank you graciously and the importance of acknowledging to the person who gave to you your appreciation. When we don’t acknowledge when someone has done something for us then the feelings of that person can be hurt. When we try to give the gift back or minimize the gift then we are hurting someone who was trying to be nice. To this day I always try and say thank you and I appreciate it when anyone does something nice for me.

I think a lot of people forgot the magic words this weekend. So I thought I’d do my part in spreading the magic. To Norway and the Norwegian Noble Peace Prize Committee thank you for honoring our President with the prize. To President Obama thank you for your gracious acceptance of the prize and for sharing it with the American people. Thank you for your fight for health care and reform. I would like to thank my Senators for their support but unfortunately living in Indiana I can’t do that at the moment since neither Senator is doing anything.

In spite of her ill health I am thankful that my mother is still alive and able to get around. I am thankful for Social Security that helps pay her bills. I am thankful for Medicare that will pay to get the cancerous growths removed from her face and for the cataract surgery she will need to see better. I am thankful for Pixie the little black cat who adopted us three years ago. She has given my mother a new lease on life. I had to really struggle the other evening not to laugh out loud when my mother was scolding Pixie like a little child after she had run down in the basement and gotten filthy crawling in the crawl space down there.

I am thankful for DAZ and Curious Labs and the other 3D software people out there for their products. When arthritis in my hands got to the point that I could no longer hold the pen or paint brush I was able to turn to the computer and an ergonomic mouse and continue to do art work. I am grateful to the people who build the 3D mesh models that I can use in my artwork. I am grateful to my art mentor Dann Lopez whose faith in me as an artist and unfailing support through the years has encouraged me to continue to try and do new things with my art. I am grateful to other professional artists like Frank Lutz who have encouraged me through the years.

I was so touched the other day when my niece thanked me again on Facebook for the Princess Bride wedding dress I made her three years ago. It was a labor of love for me and I was fighting tears of joy all during the wedding seeing her so beautiful and marrying someone who truly loved her and her children.

I am thankful that John Goodwin and my brother Eric know how to make computers and for the two computers I have because of them. I use them both every day.

Yesterday I was thankful for the absolutely beautiful fall day with the blue sky and crisp weather. Thanks to Cannon for making a digital camera that allowed me to get the shot of the moon over the trees. The pictures are my two screen savers at the moment and I am thankful to all the above that I have them on my computer screens.

Look around you I am sure you can find something to be thankful for. Say thank you. It is not only good for you but for the person who gives. They truly are the magic words.

What Goes Around Comes Around

We have all heard the old adage “what goes around, comes around” and this week proved it at work. Our new boss did the reorganization that everyone was talking about but us. She held her cards close to her chest so that while the hospital knew a reorganization was coming none knew what shape it would take. Now we know and it was a shocker. The biggest change was that the woman who had made life miserable for the whole office is gone. Our boss fought the Administration and won on this one.

This woman had played the system well. She had talked about how getting your arm caught in the elevator doors could be a good workman’s comp and then proceeded to do that. She wrangled free medical care, a twelve week leave of absence with a job guaranteed, a settlement from the company, and the enmity of her entire department. When the old boss was hiring for an opening in the Patient Accounts Department this woman told her not to hire the blond woman because she was too pretty. Well the blond woman is pretty and smart and was hired and is now the manager. She has shaken things up like you would not believe. The diehard clicks that were running the place have lost their power. No more lazing around.

Our new boss had no choice but to put elevator hand back into a job but pulled her out of patient accounts and stuck her in billing. We are overstaffed in billing and she knew the job was on its way out. Two of the nicest people are in patient accounts now but a lot of their duties are changing in order to sick them on the insurance companies. They still get to hire a third person over there as well as pull a couple of things now outsourced back in house. Our new boss refused to put the elevator hand lady back into patient accounts because of one) the number of complaints from patients and two) the horrible way she treated both of the ladies who are in the department now.

So out goes the most hated person in the office. You can’t treat people with such hatred as she did and not have it come back and bite you. She hated me because I was smarter then she was and caught her mistakes. She tried more than once to get me fired. My job is now secure.

The second in command is not one of my favorite people but she does know the most about the way things run. However the new boss is riding herd on her and monitoring the way she behaves towards others. I snapped at her the other day when she insinuated I was dumb and didn’t know what I was talking about. I had a long talk with the boss as to why I was so upset and made a promise to her to trust her and that things were going to be changed. She let me know that she can hear what is going on in the office and she will stop the back stabbing and bitchiness that is prevalent in the office. They have learned that she will eliminate jobs and they are scared. I actually got a written apology from the lady who was being nasty. It was the first time it has ever happened in the twenty-five years that she had been there.

What goes around comes around. It will be interesting times.

Priceless

Kids and cats can brighten up the worse day sometimes. Yesterday was one of those days at work where you feel that working with kindergartners would be better then the adults I'm saddled with. The level of maturity would rise for one thing. I had a migraine coming on by the time I got home. My 17½ pound momma’s boy, Merlin, was happy to see me as was my mother’s cat, Pixie. That made me feel better too. I’m surprised I have any skin left on my hand the way Merlin was washing my hand last night.

My niece had called and I noticed that the older boy was now using one of my art pieces as his avatar on Facebook. His sister had objected to his using something she had done so he decided that Grandmother wouldn’t mind. I had helped to raise their Mom so they consider me to be their grandmother which is cool with me. The older boy has made it through a real rough time battling Asperger’s and he and I have a close relationship. He picked my picture “Celestial Dragon” and I was thrilled.

His older sister had an assignment to write about an epic hero and was disappointed that her teacher wouldn’t let her do “Sean” from my short story collection. Again I was thrilled that she had immediately thought of something I had done for her project. You can find the stories on the web at the short story collection portion of my website.

My older boy also cracked me up when he was complaining to his Mom that no one got his reference to “Captain Jack” in his classroom. Of course he meant Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood. He was further shocked to find only one person had even heard of Doctor Who. His response was “I thought they were geeks but they are just nerds.” Priceless.

Questions

Why my mother can remember to set up my coffee the night before but can’t remember her arthritic hands can not open a bug bomb in time for it not to go off in her face. How I can hear her chocking all the way upstairs but my brother can’t from downstairs because the Colts game is on. How she can remember that the old computer needs to be wiped but can’t remember where the mouse and keyboard are so I can operate the computer. Just found where she those. Sigh! Why Mom thinks the windows HAVE to be washed and it is going to rain all week.

Why Merlin can have a gigantic hairball and three minutes later is eating again. Why Pixie has to run upstairs to see what I’m doing if I have to get up and go to the bathroom. How many times does one can have to watch the water flush in a toilet? After three years isn’t she use to it now? Why Merlin thinks if I get up to go to the bathroom that it means he can move over and take his half out of the center of the bed.

Why the best ideas for art come after midnight when you have to be at work the next morning. And the big question is how does Monday morning get here so quick?