Ay-Goo!

There is so much for which I am thankful.

Close friends, constructive colleagues.

The fact that I have experienced both an excellent education (which is ongoing) and excellent healthcare (also ongoing, although I may wait a bit longer to receive it).

I am thankful for a family that tolerates my rough patches and celebrates my achievements.

This afternoon I received a letter of acceptance from Georgetown's Master of Health Systems Administration program. I sure as #$%^ am thankful for that.

I am thankful that patient-centric, user-generated health management gives me a forum to express all this wonderful gratitude, and channel it.

And tonight (this morning) a special thank you to my husband.

Here's something a little different to digest on Turkey Day:

How to Live - By Charles Harper Webb, from Amplified Dog. © Red Hen Press

"I don't know how to live."
–Sharon Olds

Eat lots of steak and salmon and Thai curry and mu shu
pork and fresh green beans and baked potatoes
and fresh strawberries with vanilla ice cream.
Kick-box three days a week. Stay strong and lean.
Go fly-fishing every chance you get, with friends

who'll teach you secrets of the stream. Play guitar
in a rock band. Read Dostoyevsky, Whitman, Kafka,
Shakespeare, Twain. Collect Uncle Scrooge comics.
See Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, and everything Monty Python made.
Love freely. Treat ex-partners as kindly

as you can. Wish them as well as you're able.
Snorkel with moray eels and yellow tangs. Watch
spinner dolphins earn their name as your panga slam-
bams over glittering seas. Try not to lie; it sours
the soul. But being a patsy sours it too. If you cause

a car wreck, and aren't hurt, but someone is, apologize
silently. Learn from your mistake. Walk gratefully
away. Let your insurance handle it. Never drive drunk.
Don't be a drunk, or any kind of "aholic." It's bad
English, and bad news. Don't berate yourself. If you lose

a game or prize you've earned, remember the winners
history forgets. Remember them if you do win. Enjoy
success. Have kids if you want and can afford them,
but don't make them your reason-to-be. Spare them that
misery. Take them to the beach. Mail order sea

monkeys once in your life. Give someone the full-on
ass-kicking he (or she) has earned. Keep a box turtle
in good heath for twenty years. If you get sick, don't thrive
on suffering. There's nothing noble about pain. Die
if you need to, the best way you can. (You define best.)

Go to church if it helps you. Grow tomatoes to put store-
bought in perspective. Listen to Elvis and Bach. Unless
you're tone deaf, own Perlman's "Meditation from Thais."
Don't look for hidden meanings in a cardinal's song.
Don't think TV characters talk to you; that's crazy.

Don't be too sane. Work hard. Loaf easily. Have good
friends, and be good to them. Be immoderate
in moderation. Spend little time anesthetized. Dive
the Great Barrier Reef. Don't touch the coral. Watch
for sea snakes. Smile for the camera. Don't say "Cheese."

Climbing - By Yours Truly (give me a break, I'm rusty...)

I have never enjoyed

arachnids.

10:33 pm on a Wednesday night and

one

the size of a pencil point

is highlighted

in the spotlight

over the dining table,

its web falling

just so

on the axis of rays

beaming down on the centerpiece

I carefully arranged -

An antique glove mold,

seed pod picked up

from the park

walking the dogs.

You wouldn’t notice

either –

The time spent -

The mold

fingers upstretched

towards light

they will not reach.

And the spider

climbing

climbing

its way to

supernova.

Sleep well dear.

Dream and stir

as I sit

contemplating things that climb

and fall.