Sparkly Shoes and Ms. Grizzly

Madeline and I headed out this morning for a ride in the car.  I was planning to take her walking at one of our favorite spots, but had to stop and get my blood drawn first.  Leaving her with plenty of food and water in the car, I left with only one glance back.  An anxious canine face gazed back at me.  Processing and waiting took a long time. Two local healthcare networks have joined forces, but in my opinion, not for the better.  The doctor's office has become a nightmare for the staff, and frustrating for the patients.  What used to take 45 minutes to an hour, now takes two hours.  The overbooked doctor's offices are spilling over into overbooked lab and radiology services.  Not pleased about it, I sat and waited, aware of a little dog who was waiting for me to return.

I decided to make the best of it, watching a little pink princess in sparkly, lit up shoes entertain us.  She was probably 3 or 4, working a pacifier and gazing into a rather murky fish tank.  She was enchanted, chattering on about Mr. and Mrs. Goldfish and the angel fish.  Another patient waiting to be poked and prodded, commented on the frog.  Ms. Princess couldn't see it, running from one side of the tank to the other.  Finally she got a glimpse of it and seemed content to come and sit next to Mom, and hold her very purple teddy bear.  She laid down, still working the pacifier.  Her mother said:  "Oh no, you can't go to sleep if I can't go to sleep.  I'm not carrying you." and patted her leg vigorously.  The little girl said "Oh yes I can", and the vigorous patting and shaking continued until the pink princess was giggling uncontrollably, and half the waiting room was chuckling along with her.

Then a woman in some football shirt spoke up.   Ms. Grizzly, clearly not content with the moment, spoke in a deep, raspy voice.  "This is bul#$@%!  I was number one, and have been waiting for over an hour.  Everyone else is going ahead of me."  Someone commented about waiting our turns.  Ms. Grizzly growled louder, and began to harangue the nurse who came out, innocently calling out a name that was NOT Ms. Grizzly's.  The nurse said she would look into it, and slid away from Ms. Grizzly's claws.  More time passed.  Still Ms. Grizzly sat, unhappily fidgeting, looking for all purposes like a benched quarterback.  "This is just bull."  She got up and grumbled to the receptionist that she was going to have to leave.  Moments later she was ushered in, and came out fairly quickly, heading back to the field in her sweatshirt and jeans.

The pink princess was gone, off holding her mommy's hand, while mommy got stuck with a needle.  So I read my book, and pretty soon my name was called.  Madeline and I were soon walking in our favorite set of woods.  Walking?  well, I was walking.  Madeline was zooming and zipping and running from tree to tree, the bench, some interesting tracks in the snow.  Go, go, go.  She was running circles around me.

I wasn't as present as usual.  My back was twinging, threatening to go out again.  Lately I've been feeling more like Ms. Grizzly than the pink princess.  It's not an easy thing this getting older.  But truth be told, I'd still much rather giggle than growl.