Recovering and All Those Things You Never Knew About Me

I am trying to be still, to relax and be quiet. It has been a little over 2 weeks since my surgery and I find myself chomping at the bit. I went to my acupuncturist yesterday and she reprimanded me for going back to work too soon. "This is your time to relax and heal" she said. So today I just went to work for 2 hours and came home. It is nice here with my sleeping dogs and I have no hugely pressing deadlines right now so why not?

Yesterday I walked over to the Historical Society Garden near our office and enjoyed the Crape Myrtles. The hot weather never seems to bother them and it is very hot here this summer. I thought the petals on the table were kind of lovely.

I noticed my friend Caroline did a blog the other day titled "16 Things You Never Knew About Me." Well this sounds like a good thing to write about but I may have to scratch my head a bit. I am not sure how many I can come up with.

1. I like to watch the little skink lizards on our deck sunning themselves and I really love the ones with blue tails. I guess they are called Blue-Tailed Skinks.

2. I still dream of producing my own animated film but am sort of convinced that I should set my sites on a short film, maybe 5 minutes. Now I just need to come up with the perfect story line. One of my favorite shorts is "The Old Mill" by Disney. I also love "The Danish Poet" which won an academy award a few years ago.

3. Cancer does not rule my life, I live with it, sure but I don't think about it all the time and it does not limit what I want to do. I do not think I am "battling" cancer or "surviving it", it is just there. I am not happy about it and intend to do want I can. I find most people forget that I have cancer because I don't act like it bothers me. I simply don't let it bother me, that's all. I really like it when others ignore it too.

4. I love to mix things up in the kitchen. I really don't think I always need to eat the foods I concoct, just stir them around. To me the kitchen is like a science lab. I had this dream when I was young that I went through the grocery store with a giant soup pot and poured one of everything in it. Yum!

5. My totem animals are frog, raven, fox and horse. These are animals I am fascinated by and feel a sort of kinship with.

6. Once I spent an hour rescuing a snake that got caught in a net that was protecting our pond from leaves. It really made me feel good. I am not overly fond of the black snakes we have here in Maryland but I know they are good for the balance of things and they are not vicious critters, actually very shy.

7. I can drive our huge 40 foot RV and I sort of enjoy it but I think Richard enjoys driving more than I do. Mostly I just want to get there.

8. I still practice ballet on my own even though I quit taking classes ages ago. Every week or so I see if I can still do Pique Turns across the floor. It is the most difficult form I mastered and I don't want to lose it. Plus it is exhilarating and fun.

9. I love to read really good novels for young adults and movies as well but they have to be good. I think it is because I would have loved to write them myself. Well, maybe in another life. There is an innocence about them that I find refreshing. I read all sorts of books but sometimes I need a break from "heaviness." I love really good animated films too. Most of them are terrible but the good ones are really an art form.

10. I love other languages and the way they sound but I am hopeless at learning them, same with music. I sound like a frog when I sing.

11. I have decided that I am going to look like myself in my older years. I refuse to dye my hair, use anti-wrinkle creams, etc. etc. and hopefully keep all my teeth. I am just going to be me and be comfortable with myself. However, I do not judge those who choose to do - everyone knows what they are comfortable with and hopefully they have figured it out by the time they are in their 60s.

12. I love swimming underwater. It feels like such a different world. I can swim half a pool length under water. Maybe I can do more if I practice but I will probably not pressure myself about it.

13. I am a huge homebody. I would much rather stay home with Richard and the dogs than anything in the world. I do like socializing but I love home the best.

15. When I was younger I thought that getting my graphic design work published would be the greatest thing possible. Now that my work has been published in numerous books, it just does not seem so important. The best thing is that my peers think the work is good and appreciate some of my concepts. That is good enough. Clients often don't like to tell you the work is great because they think you might want to charge them more. If they use my logos for years it is a good enough compliment for me. It means the symbol works for them.

16. I think I have run out of weird things. Basically I have become a really simple person delighting in each wonderful moment I experience and some of those moments are very quiet.