Stewardship

A recent column in the Cap-Journal from a man seeking to find his father's birth parents commented on a baby being left on the doorstep of a home that is no longer there. Last year a visitor rang my doorbell. A grandson from Texas of the original owners of my home wanted to see the family homestead. The built environment anchors us in our life stories. When my grandparents' home burnt down, I was devastated. I felt like an orphan. Some disasters cannot be prevented, but too many times people allow houses to fall into disrepair or to be chopped up into rentals they can bleed dry and then demolition. I recognize that it is highly subjective whether a house is worth saving and restoring but remember one thing . . . this was somebody's home. If we are good stewards in maintaining a house through the years, we are preserving somebody's memories, not to mention preserving a "marker" in our heritage and history. It is important that we develop a sense of stewardship of our built environment to stop urban decay and urban flight.

Venting

They say you should never act when you're mad, but writing is very cathartic for me. I'm mad about health care issues! I got hit with a double whammy this week. Whammy #1 - Happy New Year from BC/BS, "we've reviewed your coverage and have increased your premium $47 more each month." I suppose the review showed that I went to the dentist and had a root canal. Because of my husband's health issues, I routinely let my own health slide because who can afford to pay medical bills on more than one person at a time? I wondered how much MORE my insurance would have increased had I gone for care more than once this past year.

Whammy #2 - we get a bill from the hospital for almost $500 in charges from when Mike was in the hospital in October 2008. Mind you this is the first time we have even seen these bills from hospitalization 15 months ago. Is it possible that a mistake has been made? Maybe so . . . but guess who now has to dig out all the old bills to try to reconcile something that we thought had been completely paid? ME! I swear they do stuff like this to drum up business, because my blood pressure is going to land me in the emergency room some day. And yes, I'll get excellent care but I'm PAYING FOR IT!!!!!!!

Hibernation

"To pass the winter in a dormant state." Has anyone besides me had a really hard time getting motivated after the Christmas snow? While we were still having family gatherings, and the house had all the halls decked, and calorie-laden goodies tantilized my senses, I enjoyed the cold, snowy weather which set the stage. Now? Now all I want to do is sleep. The only one around our household affected more is my Jack Russell terrier who lays around with sad eyes. If he could talk, he would say, "No bark park, no walks, no sunshine - and I hate this miserable coat that you put on me whenever I go out to pee."