Scribbles and Notes

1. There is a picture on the left of Gemma and me, dressed up before going to the theater. This was on 23 December, when we went with our friends to Denver for a matinee of Little House on the Prairie, the musical.

The day itself was a delight. We stopped on our way up for lunch and spent twice as long on the drive home due to traffic and bad weather, but the company in our car was good.

As for the musical, it was also a delight. The stagecraft was very imaginative, as it would have to be because half of the relevant material included horses, crops burning and treacherous journeys through snow. Melissa Gilbert, the actress who played Laura in the TV series, played Ma Ingalls in the stage production. Though it pains me to say it, she was pretty terrible.

When she made her first entrance, she got a huge round of applause. OK. That's cool. A lot of fans in the audience. But at her curtain all, she got a massive, standing ovation. People! Applause after performance is supposed to be directly related to the performance! Were you not watching?

My other critique is of the script. Gemma and I finished reading all the Little House books just this past summer. (This was my first time reading them, too, and I was so impressed by them. These are books for adults as much as children. . . ) So it is fresh in my mind how God-fearing the Ingalls family was. All the books are permeated with prayers, hymns and, at times, theological discussions.

In this musical, there was no inclusion of this faith. No mention of God at all, really, except for one exasperating moment: In the books, when Mary becomes blind, she speaks with great love for God, and no blame. In the musical, not only does Mary not have this reflection, but Pa curses God for her blindness!

GASP.

Pa would never say something like that. . .

And I don't really understand the script-writer's choice in these matters.

2. I brought the list of peculiar doctor names to Dr. Tanner on Wednesday. A mental list, not a printed one. Thank you to Sister #2, my Mom, Ben and Amanda who played along. I was pretty excited to spring some on him.

Here was his reaction: to Payne, Scream, Luc, and Clutts--practically nothing. Just a mild look of bemusement and the thought across his face of, "Why is this woman still on the topic?"

Then I mentioned the OB named Dr. Hymen and he laughed out loud.

Then I said, "There were a few others, but it would make me blush to repeat them," and a different look crossed his face. Something like, "Who blushes about anything anymore?"

From there, we chatted about other things. It's become a little game for me: How irrelevant can I make my comments before he ends the appointment? Or maybe he figures he needs to sit there for 10 minutes in order to bill in good conscience, so he'll talk about anything.

3. I had an appointment with Mayfield on Monday! How fun is that? Bryan and I went together, then did lunch and a movie, and then I went to radiation while the kids were with Betsy for the day. I enjoyed Monday more than Christmas itself.

Why did I need to see Mayfield?

Oh. Well. I'd called his office to get a referral for a surgical consult in the coming months so I could learn more about my surgical options. Mayfield had me schedule an appointment with him instead of just signing off on a referral.

I told Bryan, "I know what he's going to say. He's going to say 'Wait, slow down, give yourself several months before surgery. . .'"

And it's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that as long as I'm clicking along with a disrupted routine and various treatments, I might as well keep right on clicking, right?

Turns out that's not what he wanted to say. He thinks clicking along is a good idea. There were just other clarifications to be made about what surgery could happen where and he wanted to talk about them in person so he could see us again, and see for himself how I was doing.

It felt like seeing an old friend, so Bryan and I didn't mind going down there one bit.

And the movie we saw was Sherlock Holmes. Such a good movie. Such a good day all around.