In and around me

October 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

I worked today. (Well, I work everyday! Whether I am at home cleaning and folding laundry, at the surgical center acting in my role as RN, or in front of my computer blogging – yes folks, I take this very seriously and make it my responsibility to work and write my daily blog!)

So, I worked today … at the surgical center. I must have had twenty patients. And they were all different. And although I had each one for maybe only twenty minutes post-operatively, I love how much I can get to know about them in such a short time. There were two factors that stuck out today as I observed my patients.

The first factor I found most interesting was what drink or food patients wanted after their surgery. We offer them water or juice. In case you didn’t know, patients must not eat or drink after midnight the night before their procedure. They come to us hungry and dehydrated. The most obvious response we get is “I would love a cup of coffee.” Oh yeah. I can relate. It just isn’t morning … It just isn’t a day … It just isn’t possible to get your game on without that morning cup o’ joe. We don’t offer that, but we encourage patients to leave and go grab a steaming hot cup on the way home. One gentleman today turned down our offer of a drink – and we get that occasionally. We don’t let them get away with it! They have to drink before they leave – c’mon patients you are dehydrated and we have to get you juiced up before you can leave! But then there’s the woman who couldn’t wait to get home to drink her diet Pepsi. Ah … the sugar-free caffeinated soft drink person! And then, after being starved since the night before, the cravings are expressed. “I got a turkey sandwich at home I can’t wait to eat.” Okay – not my first choice – but she was happy about it. One little old lady was leaving us and going straight to Bob Evans for mashed potatoes! That was her go-to comfort food that she swore made her feel better and back-to-herself every time. Bless her heart! There was another woman who was not looking real good on my monitoring equipment and I suggested she take a few deep breaths. She coughed and then said it was probably because of her emphysema. She then talked about the cup of coffee she couldn’t wait to drink and added that she was also hoping to smoke a cigarette on the way home. Wait. What? “You can’t do that” I smiled, “Not with your emphysema.” “I know,” she smiled back. But she really was going to smoke one. We both knew it. Bless her heart.

The other factor that I found quite telling today was the identity of the person that accompanied the patient. A person cannot have a surgical procedure that involves anesthetic and then drive themselves home. The effects of the sleepy medicine might cause them to fall asleep at the wheel. Not a good thing for other drivers around that car. The most obvious companion is a spouse. Many times the accompanying person is an adult son or daughter. We get lots of friends, and many lovely nieces helping their dear aunts. And then there are the ones that come alone. Our center has a van and we can give the patient a ride home. But they come alone. 🙁 Makes me so sad that they have no one to come with them.

And then there was this one man who had his wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law with him. In recovery I found his blood pressure to be a little too high for my comfort. The man sat quietly, eyes large and staring, while the family around him spoke non-stop. I tried to make light of the loud and over bearing family members and I asked the patient if he was bringing his whole posse with him next week when he was going to have his other eye operated on. He replied, “Why do you think my blood pressure is so high?” Poor fellow!

What do you fill yourself with? Who do you surround yourself with? The answers to both questions tell others a little bit about who you are.

Just something to think about.

just Laurel

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Proverbs 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

Sweet Transformations

October 8, 2012 Leave a Comment

Our trip yesterday to the farm was wonderful! It was so full of food, and Fall, and friends that I couldn’t help but notice how the common theme for the day was (in my crazy creative mind) “Sweet Transformations.”

The most obvious transformation yesterday was the changing colors of the foliage. As we drove south into southern Ohio, the landscapes we passed were breathtakingly beautiful with leaves of golden-yellow, tangy orange, vivid red, all shades of greens, plenty of brown, as well as deep crimson leaning to plum. Spectacular! What a miracle of nature for the dying leaves to transform to such gorgeous hues.

There was a big fall fest going on at the farm with plenty of guests, in addition to the family we knew in attendance. Lots of people necessitates plenty of food and here’s where I bet I’ll get you salivating.

Along one wall inside the barn, they had a deep fryer set up. Are you familiar with those tubes of biscuit dough that you whack against the counter so it explodes open with biscuit dough bloating out? Alright, so those biscuits are okay to bake and eat in a pinch, but I never buy them. However, they had a whole herd of these tubes and it was awesome how they transformed them! Peeling off a raw biscuit from the popped tube, they would stretch and poke a hole in the middle and then plop it into the fryer. After the dough had fried to a lovely golden brown, it was taken out and put into a brown paper bag with lots of cinnamon sugar. The kids (and adults) got to shake their donut in the bag, thus coating the piping hot goody with sweet stuff. OMG! – imagine this crisp cool Fall day (okay – I was freezing and my toes were numb) and biting into this warm, cinnamony, sugary, fried piece of dough. Oh lordy, it was good! And amazing how some refrigerator biscuit dough could be changed and transformed into something so good.

As if that wasn’t good enough, they had a wood fire going on the gravel driveway. Over the fire in a copper kettle they were making (a favorite of mine) kettle corn! Shortening and popcorn kernels were put into the kettle. Once things got bubbling hot and popping, some salt and a big scoop of sugar were added to the kettle and then stirred with a long wooden paddle. Instant kettle corn! Hot kettle corn! I couldn’t-eat-enough-of-it kettle corn. Another sweet transformation! Starting with the simple ingredients of corn kernels, shortening, salt, and sugar – apply heat – and presto/pop = kettle corn!

Ted and I joined the party by helping with the cider making. Lisa had gotten ahold of about 5 bushels of apples for us. You don’t need pretty apples for cider. The apples she got were from neighboring farms. A little bruised, a bit misshapen, some worm holes here and there. We spent some time before festivities began with washing and sorting. Some of those apples were plain old ugly. One worm hole didn’t stop them from passing inspection. Several worm holes and extensive bruising made us cut into the apple to check its quality a little more intimately. We opening up some and found white, juicy apple. Other apples had been taken over by worms and rot. (those went to the reject wheelbarrow) But the fascinating part is how you put all of these ugly, roughed-up apples into the cider press, and out comes the sweetest cider of all! From ugly and bruised, the apples transformed through grinding and pressing into sweet cider.

Besides Ted’s mom and dad, there was Uncle John, Aunt Marilee, 4 cousins and their spouses, and 7 children of the cousins. That’s 19 family members there for us to visit with! The rest of the crowd of people were strangers to us. But then something really neat happened. First a little background information: Last summer one of the cousins’ children had come up to visit us with three other friends. We took these college-bound young people sailing and shared a great weekend with them. So jump forward to the fall fest – and I didn’t expect to see any of them – they were off at college! Then I saw a young girl walk in and I immediately said, “That’s Daniella’s sister! She looks just like her!” Daniella had been one of our weekend guests. I was correct! After speaking to her, Ted and I next got to meet her parents and then there was another set of parents belonging to another one of our weekend guests – Grant – and then Grant showed up! Suddenly this crowd of strangers transformed into friendly faces. It was wonderful.

Spring is the time of year when people clean up, clear out, and shine things up. Spring Cleaning! I think Fall should be recognized as the season of transformations! As the leaves unveil before us a change of color – maybe it’s time you turned over a new leaf! (haha) But seriously – could you sweeten up a little over some bitter area in your life? Has your behavior been ugly on the outside? Is it time to show the inner sweet side that you are capable of?

Change is inevitable. Might as well embrace and welcome it!

You just might welcome a sweet transformation.

just Laurel

2 Corinthians 5:17B The old has gone, the new is here!

Galations 6:15B What counts is the new creation.

Home sweet home

October 6, 2012 1 Comment

There’s no better place to go then “home.” I don’t mean the home we go to everyday after picking up the kids from school, or leaving work for the day. I mean the home, as in “home for the holidays.” Or, back home to the place where you grew up; where your family is. That’s the key word – Family! I’m talking about the visit to Grandma’s at Christmas where all the cousins and aunts and uncles are. Or the family cottage up north where the whole family goes for a couple of weeks each summer. Home. To family. To your roots. Where blood is thicker then water and it just feels good to hang out with the people you are related to. Even the weird ones.

When my husband Ted was growing up, that ‘home’ belonged to his paternal grandparents. Ted’s dad was in the Air Force and they lived in many places around the country and around the world. Grandma and Grandpa were permanent fixtures on East Royal Forest Street in Columbus, Ohio, and that is where they could always go home to, in between moves. It was their permanent address.

In my case, I didn’t really have a grandparent’s residence to go home to. However, I had many wonderful Christmas memories with my Aunt Martha and Uncle Bill and my four cousins in New Jersey. We would fly in to visit, and my Connecticut cousins usually showed up too. With the three families combined, there was twelve of us cousins! My childhood memories of Christmas’s in New Jersey were always magical, warm, and all about family.

I happened to look up the origin of the song that includes the familiar lyrics: Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home. Written in 1823, the song has remained well-known for over 180 years. On Wikipedia I read that the song was reputedly banned from being played in Union Amy camps during the American Civil War for being too redolent of hearth and home and so likely to incite desertion. I am sure our own military stationed overseas would love the option of running home when homesickness overtakes them!

This afternoon as Ted and I were running a few errands together, we were discussing our plans for the rest of the weekend. “We have church this evening,” I said, “And tomorrow we go to the farm.”

“The farm,” Ted echoed back.

“Yes, to the farm,” I said back to him as I gazed quizzically at him.

“Doesn’t that sound nice?” he asked. “Tomorrow we go to the farm.”

Ted’s cousin and family live on a farm in southern Ohio. There is a big Fall Fest there tomorrow and tons of people will be there including several cousins with their spouses and children, Ted’s mom and dad, as well as a favorite aunt and uncle. Family! Ted was just warming up to the idea of being with so many of the family he loved. For him, tomorrow’s trip to the farm will be like a trip home.

With our daughters grown and moved out (Amanda’s day is coming soon) Ted and I will have this big ‘ole house to ourselves (hurray!). Part of me wants us to move to a smaller place that is easier to take care of and less costly to maintain. But another part of me wants to keep the big house so the kids have a place to come home to. We’ll have to see how that works itself out.

If you’re looking for us tomorrow, we won’t be home.

We’re going to the farm.

just Laurel

1 Chronicles 16:43 Then all the people left, each for their own home, and David returned home to bless his family.

Gettin’ the facts straight

October 5, 2012 1 Comment

Oh what a night. Last night. Or you could call it this morning since this saga began at one in the morning.

I usually go to bed before Ted. When Ted came to bed around one in the morning, he tossed and turned and was quickly back out of bed. He woke me of course. He was pacing and making big sighing noises. Then he turned on the hall light.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“My left arm hurts so bad I can’t sleep. It hurts so bad I had to get out of bed.” he replied.

Oh dear. Now EVERYONE knows that if you have pain radiating down your left arm (like Ted did) and even tingly fingers (he did) that you might be having a heart attack. I suggested we go to an urgent care but then quickly thought no – better go to a hospital in case this is the real thing.

Ted didn’t really want to go to the hospital. But he knew I was worried. And then, in typical Ted fashion, he had to start asking “Why does pain in your arm mean a heart attack?” He wanted to know the connection. He wanted the facts. He was ready to debate and discuss. Oh dear Lord. So there I was at one in the morning, firing up my laptop to google ‘pain in left arm related to heart attacks.” The computer wasn’t waking up fast enough, and Ted continued to pace in pain and I decided – let’s just GO! The heck with the facts.

And then that silly man grabs his car keys like HE’S going to drive! Um, “No, Ted,” I told him. “I am driving. What if you have a heart attack on the drive? What if they keep you and I need to drive home??” Poor Teddy begrudgingly gave in.

Within an hour after being at the ER, it was clear that Ted’s vital signs and EKG were all normal. No emergency here. But they wanted to do some heart tests so they were going to keep him to give him a stress test. If he passed that, he could go home. The tests would give us the facts.

They don’t do stress tests at that time of night. <sigh> Ted was going to have to camp out in the ER until morning. His arm pain had subsided, so I knew he’d be snoring in no time. I went home to try to get some sleep. Ted thought for sure his loud snoring would earn him a ticket out of there.

I got home about 4:30 in the morning and went to bed.

When I got up at 7am, I found Amanda up already. She didn’t know her dad was at the hospital. She had slept through the whole thing!

I calmly told Amanda about her dad’s left arm pain and how they were going to check out his heart. I asked her to please not post it all over Facebook and to just relax. Her dad was fine.

A little while later Amanda came to me and asked, “What did you wear to the Emergency Room?” Huh? What a strange question. I thought for a few seconds and reallzed that Amanda had heard us tell the story many times of a frantic trip to the emergency room when she was a baby. It was late at night and we were already in our bedclothes.

Now WHO would rush to the emergency room in only their bathrobe???

I assured Amanda that we weren’t in a panic. The fact was, we had time to put on our regular clothes. Bless her heart.

After a shower and breakfast, I told Amanda that I was going back to the hospital to check on dad and that I would call her and/or be back home later. She said she was okay and as I got ready to leave, she got on her phone with a friend. As I was getting ready to head out the door, I heard her say:

“My dad had to go to the hospital last night. His WHOLE LEFT SIDE was hurting him.”

“Nooooo!” I cried to Amanda. “No, no, no. It was just his left ARM not his WHOLE LEFT SIDE!!”

Oh my – how that girl can turn everything into a drama. I had to correct her and help her get the facts straight.

Long story short, Ted check out just fine and passed all his heart tests with flying colors. The ER finally let him go home at about two in the afternoon, His left arm pain? No one knows for sure. We’ll just have to deal with it if it happens again.

But here’s what I know for sure:

The fact is:
Pain in your left shoulder and arm can definitely be a sign of a heart attack.
The fact is:
The doctor and nurses told me I did the right thing, bringing Ted to the hospital to get checked out – I mean, you never know.
The fact is:
Now that Ted’s heart has been tested, we can rest assure that his old ticker is working just fine.
The fact is:
As we are all nervous about Amanda soon adjusting to life in her own apartment and having to be asleep on her own during the night, why …. “Amanda, we left you by yourself at one in the morning and you were JUST FINE sleeping by yourself until after 4am. You can do this Amanda! You were all by yourself sleeping and you did just fine!”

And that’s a fact!

just Laurel

Changing directions

October 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

If you have been reading my posts, you know that my friend Clara and I go to the gym two to three mornings a week. We are usually with the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday crowd. Those are the days that the track traffic goes counter-clockwise. When we started going to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we were thrown off-balance by the track traffic being directed clockwise! It felt wrong to go the other way. We have had quite a few consecutive clockwise days that we didn’t even notice the direction we were walking this morning. Neither of us mentioned it. I guess we have gotten used to the change of direction.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. Lao Tzu

My youngest daughter had problems changing directions when she was a baby. That little stinker would set her sights on some piece of trouble and head towards it like a choo choo train. She never heard my “No, no, no’s.” She stayed firm on her tracks and headed in the direction of her goal. It was like moving a train onto another alternative set of tracks to steer that baby away from trouble. She stubbornly fought any attempts of mine to change her direction.

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. Jimmy Dean

We are still trying to pull together the loose ends so that we can get Amanda moved out to her own apartment. There are some issues that are giving me some negative vibes. Oh – we will still get her moved out. I haven’t chickened out! But I think we might have to go in a different direction. We are at one of those proverbial forked roads and I am struggling with which direction to choose. I need to decide quickly. I’ve been asking God for a little help and a little direction.

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. Jim Rohn

Well, I will sleep on it and hope for enlightenment tomorrow. It makes me dizzy to try to weigh the pros and cons of the two directions I am considering. It’s times like these that I wish they had post-it-notes in heaven so God could leave me a note to wake up to! Or He could mapquest it for me … I mean … seriously …. how do I get ready for this trip of moving Amanda out if I don’t know for certain what road to take? I need some direction here!

If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

just Laurel

Some things just don’t belong together…

October 3, 2012 Leave a Comment

There are some things that just don’t belong together. Like: Milk and orange juice. Or: Bleach and colors. How about: Alcohol and driving?

I recall a disastrous yet funny combination. My husband Ted was crewing on a long sailboat race so there were quite a few provisions packed on the boat. With a race that keeps you sailing over night, you must have some food and beverages to eat and drink. Someone had brought a bag of those animal crackers that are rather balloon-shaped. Makes sense to me – like grabbing a fist full of pretzels, you could easily grab a handful of animal crackers while you continued to trim the sails or ride along on the racing boat. Well, boats get wet. And sometimes people drop their cookies. Put together a good quantity of water in the bottom of the boat and a spilled bag of animal crackers. Those little animal shapes sucked up the liquid like a sponge and grew into huge bloated balloon animal crackers. Gross. And then if you touched the swollen cracker animals, they dissolved into a mass of nasty tan decimated cookie soup. Animal crackers and puddles do not mix.

I had to see a hand surgeon today for a bump on the palm of my hand. I thought it was one of those ganglion or bible cysts. Oh! … fyi … these so-called bible cysts are given that name because the traditional old way of treating them was to smack the thing with the bible or other large book to burst and eradicate them. After x-ray and ultra-sound I found out I don’t have a ganglion cyst. I have a TUMOR!! What the heck?? You don’t get tumors on your hands. Tumors are in your brain or stuck on vital organs. I felt like Arnold Schwarzenegger and kept saying “I have a too-mah. I have a too-mah.” I get to go back and have an MRI of that little sucker (An MRI of my HAND? of the too-mah on my HAND?!) and then surgery to cut that thing out. Hands and tumors don’t go together!

I smiled as I noticed that Amanda promoted my book today on her Facebook page. I am sure she saw her two sisters doing the same thing on their pages, so she was doing her part. Sweet. I got a note from a friend today that said (jokingly) that she would read my book only if Amanda and I autographed it. I told her, “Of course we would.” Which brings up the whole issue of – Is Amanda going to read my book? The short answer? No. The long answer? Amanda can read, but doesn’t read books. She can read short things – like Facebook posts and cards she gets in the mail. A whole book is too much for her. She ends up reading words and getting no meaning. And when there is no meaning in all those words, she loses interest after page one. To prove my point, she has (her beloved) Donny Osmond’s biography and has held the book close to her heart, drooled on the photos inside, but has never read a word of it.

I have asked Amanda several times how she feels about me writing a book about her. She just shrugs and says it’s ok. She doesn’t mind and, of course, will enjoy the added attention it brings. If you have read the book you will know that there are some things about friends of hers I’d rather she not read. Amanda and Amanda reading my book just don’t go together.

I wanted all of you to know.

just Laurel

“I have a headache.”
– “It might be a tumor.”
– “It’s not a tumor. It’s not a tumor.” (pronounced ‘tumah’)
Detective John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to young Lowell (Ben McCreary) in Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Getting to know you

October 2, 2012 7 Comments

If you have been reading my blog, you’ll know that I recently began a new job at an out-patient surgical center. At work, I am the new girl. We are all dressed in scrubs and everyone looks the same. You can’t tell the nurse from the techs from the anesthesiologist from even the doctor. (Yes – the other day there was this girl in scrubs leaning on the counter by us nurses – and someone addressed her as Dr. ____ . Oops!)

As the new girl I try to do my job while I stand back and work on memorizing everyone’s name. And as I work and stand a little off from everyone (‘cuz I’m the new girl) I find it interesting to listen to the friendly chit-chat that happens between co-workers. One nurse has a married daughter with two grandsons she adores. Another nurse has a daughter who rides and shows horses. One tech is a dad who sometimes leaves work early to pick up his kids from school. Just by listening, I am finding out that all these blue-scrub-clad medical workers are real people with real lives. I am getting to know them. I wonder what they think of me so far?

At the gym where my bff Clara and I go to, we encounter many of the same crowd of people every morning that we work out. At first they all looked the same to us, but as the weeks went by we got familiar with the ‘regulars.’ (Yeah – stay away from the creeper in the camo pants, and OMG – check out those girls lips! … she was looking real ducky that morning!) There is this one guy who we always nod a “hello” to and engage in occasional conversations. One day he said, “By the way my name is Mike.” We found out that Mike had a daughter and at least one grandson, and that Mike used to ride motorcycles. We’ve been getting to know Mike. Just a little. But enough to realize that we haven’t seen him in about a week. Hmm. Now that we know his name and have gotten to know him a little, we are a bit concerned with him being absent.

Today my book, Amanda, Perfectly Made, is ‘live’ – that means it is available for purchase. People are ordering my book and the Kindle users have ordered and are reading already.

Today, I am terrified. There’s not going to be any ‘getting to know you.’ My book is about me, as a mom, and the journey over the past 29 years. I’ve shared my thoughts, fears, anger, faith, successes and fails as a mother to Amanda and her sisters. I am scared that, as a reader, you might not like me.

I have a friend who read an earlier version of my book for me and commented, “You better be prepared for the backlash and criticism.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, unless there will be readers who are going to harshly judge me as a mom to a handicapped daughter and the choices and decisions I made. I don’t know.

There is more to me then being Amanda’ s mom. I am a wife, and a friend, a neighbor, a daughter, a singer at my church, an actress when given a script, a nurse, a co-worker, and a child of God. I am doing the best I can. It is my heartfelt desire that my book will touch the people who need to hear my story. God tapped me on the shoulder to write it and led me through every tap on my keyboard.

People can be made generic by the clothes they wear – with everyone the same in blue scrubs or workout clothes. Underneath those clothes is a person with a name. We all have a story. We all have people we love and who love us. We all have talents and responsibilities that make us who we are.

Walk a mile in my shoes and please read Amanda, Perfectly Made.

just Laurel

Trading Places

October 1, 2012 1 Comment

I am usually the one to handle most of the care, transportation, doctor appointments, and daily stuff with Amanda. Oh, Ted helps out plenty. But I usually do the most because Ted is the one with the full-time job. He’s the breadwinner. He brings home the bacon.

I didn’t mean for it to happen, but today we traded places. Ted had to work, but because he was local and not driving to another state, he could be hands-on with Amanda. My new job is in an out-patient surgical center and we start real early in the morning. And, I can’t exactly tell everyone to take a break while I go fetch my daughter or take her some lunch.

I left the house at 7am. (I have to add that I had Amanda dressed, fed, and a lunch made for her to eat before I left – sigh, martyr martyr.) Ted’s job had him making a quick run into a steel mill account before getting home to take himself and Amanda to eleven o’clock dental cleaning appointments. (Yes. Woo-hoo! I didn’t have to take Amanda to the dentist! Oh – she is pretty good about it, but may I remind every one of Amanda’s sensitive gag reflex??)

When Amanda is in my care and something bad happens, I try not to bother Ted while he is working unless it is an emergency. Ted knew he couldn’t phone me – not while I am taking care of post-surgical patients.

So – it started with this phone text from Ted to me:

“Call when you can”

“Oh Lord, what does that mean?” I wondered to myself as I snuck a peek at my vibrating phone. “I hope no one sees me looking at my phone.”

So I texted him back when I had a chance:

“Done soon cant call yet – everything ok?”

My mind is going bonkers! I am thinking that something is wrong, and yet he doesn’t want to divulge details and get me worried and upset. But the measly little bit of information he did text me is driving me crazy! Did Amanda throw up? Did something happen at the dentist? Argh.

His response to my texted question?

“It is now.”

Really? Oh that calmed me right down. Not. So everything wasn’t ok, but it is now?? But then, I figured, whatever it was, things must be under control now. I might as well pay attention to my own job-at-hand and trust my hubby.

I called, of course, as I drove home from work. The ‘problem’ had nothing to do with Amanda and was an issue Ted quickly resolved. (big exhale!)

I told Ted how his text had stirred up a good dose of worry. He apologized and said that, next time, he would give more details in his text. He also added that if it had truly been an emergency, he would have let me know!

I think the event was a good lesson to both of us. I learned to trust and to not jump so quickly on the worry wagon. Ted learned to juggle his job, a dental appointment, and even other issues while being today’s designated caregiver.

Try trading places with someone!

What’s the worst that could happen? (Besides Amanda puking!)

just Laurel

Unexpected

September 30, 2012 Leave a Comment

Today was grocery shopping day. Not my favorite thing to do, but a necessary one. It’s okay. With my list in hand, I am a driven woman to seek and conquer – filling my basket with the needed items and making it home asap. I have been caught off guard the last couple of shopping trips while I am at the register. At the particular store I frequent, the cashier has been asking, after greeting me, this question: “Did you find everything?” Of course, I say, “Yes, thank you.” And I am sure most people say the same thing. But one time, I really took the question to heart, thought about it, and answered honestly, “No, I didn’t.” The poor cashier stopped scanning my items and froze. She looked at me, dumbfounded. I chuckled and said to her, “I bet you don’t get that answer very often. So, now what? What are you going to do about the item that wasn’t in the store?” (I was being nice) The poor thing replied, “Well, I don’t know! They told us to ask customers that question, but they didn’t tell us what to say if you answered ‘no’ !!” I laughed and told her that it was okay, I could live without that particular item. The amusing part was that I caught her totally off guard and my answer was unexpected. Everyone going through that check out line just says their hello and nods and pays and is on their way.

Every day we all get the same expected response when we ask people, “How are you ?” And that answer is “Fine.”

“Hi! How are you?”

“Fine!”

“How ya doin’?”

“Fine.”

“How’s your day going?”

“Fine.”

“Fine” is the expected answer. If people answered honestly and told about how their dog died, or about their migraine, or the fight they had with their spouse, it would put a pause in you day as you tried to absorb this totally unexpected response.

My husband Ted is the king of the unexpected. When people ask him how he is, the answer is not any benign “Fine,” it is:

“Hey Ted! How are you?”

He answers, “Unbelievable!”

(I know – most of you reading this already knew)

But he answers with the unexpected. He really has fun with it. It makes some people laugh. Others remain completely puzzled. But for many, it breaks the monotony, gives their brain a little burst of thinking juice, and makes the conversation a little less robotic and more human.

I like the saying: Expect the unexpected. The online “Wiktionary” defines it as this: To not be surprised by an unusal event. Anything could happen, and probably will.

I’m all for giving a different answer and stepping away from the usual! Let’s have fun, people, and be unbelievable! Step outside of the paradigm box of “fine” and be unexpected!

I was caught by the unexpected:

My daughter, Jillian, was chatting with me on Facebook when she copy and pasted a website for me to click on. I expected it to be the next thing she had her eye on to buy (sorry Jilly !). So I clicked and it was an Amazon.com listing for the book “Amanda, Perfectly Made” by Laurel Rausch Greshel.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! omg omg omg That was totally UNEXPECTED! I mean – I should have expected it because publish date is nearing. But (yeah, I have to say it) it was totally unbelievable to see.

Have an unbelievable Monday everyone – and expect the unexpected!

just Laurel