Friday, February 24, 2017

Three Beautiful Things 02/23/17: Annual Exam, Educators at Old Line, *Aqualung* and Milk and Honey

1.  I drove up to Fulton, MD to my primary doctor's new office and for my annual general exam. I won't know the full results until I have my blood work done this coming Monday, but the things he could check out in his office are in good shape. I have a lot of medical check-ups and tests in my near future, beginning with an all day visit to the U of Maryland Transplantation Center on March 15th -- I did one of these all day visits two years ago and I have to do them every two years as a part of being on the transplant list. Other things like TB test, chest X-ray, possibly some cardiology testing, and we'll see what else will happen after the all day visit. I have my six month check-up with my nephrologist in late March.  As always, the best I can hope for is that my kidney function is stable. Until the bloodwork tells its tale, though, all I can really know is that I sure feel good.

2. Every so often a group of people who work for or who have been fired from Prince George's County School District get together for beers and some food and to give each other moral support. The Deke is part of this group and I get to sit in and listen. Late this afternoon, the group met at Old Line and listened to each other, laughed, commiserated, told sad stories, told some funny ones, and talked about stuff unrelated to school -- travel, retirement dreams, and family tales among other things.  For many years, when I got together with fellow teachers, I was an insider and now I'm an outsider.  I can't even pretend to be a part of the life of an educator any longer and my old stories from LCC seem really irrelevant in this context.  I'm fine with being a silent listener and grateful that this group of people doesn't seem to mind me sitting in.

3. On our way out of Old Line, the Deke and I bought a bottle of Green Hat, the locally distilled gin I mentioned a couple of days ago. We each at a single drink of Green Hat at home and while the Deke finished up some school work, I put in the ear buds and listened to Jethro Tull's Aqualung and reminisced within myself about how this album, along with Jesus Christ Superstar, addressed questions about Christianity, Jesus, God, and the church in ways that deeply affected me forty-five years ago and remain with me today. I loved entering back into that period of my life again through Jethro Tull. Later, I watched an episode of Chopped: Redemption that featured a chef named Sammy Davis from Baltimore who now has a breakfast/brunch spot called Milk and Honey, a short distance from Old Line on Rt. 1 in Beltsville. I didn't know about this place, but one of the Deke's friends brought it up at the get together this evening  and mentioned that the chef had been a winner on Chopped. Lo and behold, I did some searching and Sammy Davis' website has a video of the episode when he won and it's right here.

No comments: