Dreary Day

Last night, my sisters and I went to the movies. This is news, because I hardly ever do that. We saw Lion, a film that follows a little boy's life after he becomes lost and separated from his family in India. It's based on a true story, and it's moving and parts of it are particularly sad and hard to watch--it's especially hard to watch adults shooing away homeless children, as if they were vermin.

This particular story reminds me a bit of Dickens; the boy, Saroo,  has a few misadventures until he is adopted by a nice Australian couple and gets to live a more privileged life. Still, memories haunt him, and the second part of the story is about how Saroo discovers who he is and just how far he's traveled.

Lion is the latest big film that reminds us of the more typical life much of the world experiences. India, in particular, has so many messy problems--population, sanitation, missing and homeless children, and extreme poverty, just to name a few.

Today seems like a dark day in more than one way, and yet--we are not India. With all the graphic news we receive online every day, we should cherish all we have, and all we stand to lose, instead of feeling that our "middle class" lives are normal. I know young people who seem to think that there is some law that would prevent congress from taking certain actions, such as repealing ACA without a replacement. See? Naïve. For granted. Not paying attention.

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MY CORNER: I'm feeling well, walking about three miles most mornings...I do plan to start physical therapy, aimed at treating lymphedema, in the near future. At this point, nothing is visually obvious, but I have a lot of tightness in my arm, and some spots, especially around my wrist, are feeling sensitive. I'm able to stretch the arm and live normally, but I do want to learn how to manage the symptoms as early as possible. I've been referred to a practice very close by, just down the street from my oncologist's, so if they don't receive my faxed script in a couple days, I'll have time on Tuesday to simply be my own messenger...

AND tomorrow, we'll go to Washington, D.C., and yell. Democracy is messy, indeed, and it will me messy in many places tomorrow.

And look! It's finally time for me to get dressed and go into work. What a shame, it's raining on a parade somewhere...