Day 252 - weekend

 Today is the 7th day of the 36th week, the 9th day of the 9th month, the 252nd day of 2023, and:

  • Aunt's Day
  • Care Bears Share Your Care Day
  • Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day
  • Farmers' Consumer Awareness Day
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day
  • German Language Day
  • Independence Day -  Democratic People's Republic of Korean [AKA North Korea] in 1948 and Tajikistan in 1991 from the USSR 
  • International Box Wine Day
  • International Buy a Priest a Beer Day
  • International Day to Protect Education From Attack - I can think of a few states where this needs to be celebrated
  • International Drive Your Studebaker Day
  • International Sudoku Day
  • Kiku no Sekku or Chrysanthemum Day
  • National Iguana Awareness Day
  • National Lacemaking Day
  • National Steak au Poivre Day
  • National Teddy Bear Day  - for every stuffed animal purchased either in a store or online, Build A Bear will donate one to a child in need
  • National Wiener Schnitzel Day
  • Opposite Day - a day on which you are supposed to do the exact opposite of what you usually do.  [Breathing, living et al are exempted from this as per SpongeBob Squarepants]
  • Remembrance for Herman the Cheruscan [AKA Arminius] - a Germanic tribal leader who defeated the emperor Augustus' legions circa 16 CE halting the Roman advance into the region
  • Tester's Day
  • Wonderful Weirdos Day
  • World First Aid Day

Quote of the day:
"Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream."
~ Khalil Gibran

Two issues unexpectedly upturned my day and caused my mind to go aroaming

The first was getting a notice that for the third time, my prescription for the Lispro insulin [the short-term insulin I must take when eating during the day] had been cancelled for the third time.  Once again I called the pharmacy and after much back and forth, was told that I could come in and pick up the nine pens later in the morning.

So I showered and dressed and decided that since I must go out, I would treat myself to breakfast at IHOP.  When I walked in, it was crowded, but when I got to the manager who was taking names, he grinned at me and pointed to the sheet and told me he had already written me down.  I grinned back and sat down to wait.  When my name was called, I got up and followed the waitress, and found to my surprise, my usual two glasses of unsweetened ice tea with extra lemon were already on the table, which made me smile as I sat down.  Then, not two minutes later, the manager placed my usual order in front of me and I said in complete astonishment "you know me too well" and he laughed and walked away.  

As I sat and ate, I remembered poignantly the time I called in an order for delivery after Frank got home from his long hospital stay from the first stroke, which happened while we were in Williamsburg, and we were gone for six weeks.  Those who know me know that because Frank hated my cooking and we ate out or ordered in all the years we were together.  There was one local deli that would deliver, and Frank liked their cheesesteak subs while I tried different things.  When I called in the order after our return, and started my spiel "one cheesesteak sub with American cheese please..." the manger interrupted me, saying that he had been worried because he hadn't heard from us for so long and much to Frank's annoyance, we had a conversation about what happened - and the order when it came was free.  When Frank died, I went to the deli the next week and told them that he was gone, but the manager was not there and the staff didn't seem to understand why I was telling them this, so I hope they told him.

As I looked at the manager of the IHOP, I wondered what would happen on that day when he was no longer there, and I wouldn't know why, or what he would think when I suddenly came no longer.  It is often that way, without realizing it, we have formed relationships with people we don't actually KNOW and never find out what transpired in their lives when they are no longer in ours.  Like the people I know from my 2nd life, like the two young men downstairs saved by my calling the fire department, like the kids I went to school with, these people with whom we have shared a small bit of our lives with move on and fade away....

Oh the prescriptions?  Well it turns out the long-term Levemir insulin was also in, but when I objected that it was short the requested amount, I was told they couldn't give me a 90 day supply, so I am 10 pens short of the required amount.  And they actually had enough Lispro, but was only going to give me partial supply [again saying I couldn't have 90 days] until after I argued with them, then they gave me both boxes - over filling the prescription by one pen.  I spoke to the weekend pharmacist who stubbornly insisted that Walgreens no longer would provide 90 day supplies [after doing so for years] and suggested I try a different pharmacy.

I left wondering the reason for the change.  The clerk muttered something about "supply chains", another patient also waiting lamented "nothing is the same after COVID", my girlfriend groused on the phone that she had never been able to get more than 30 days of any medication at any pharmacy, and I am left reflecting that maybe they didn't want to risk giving me meds that I might not use completely before dying or having the prescription changed 

While I was writing my blog post, Triscuit sat and stared alertly at the same spot for almost 10 minutes.  Obviously something has her complete attention, while of course, I can discern no reason for such rapt concentration.  Then she just walked away as one would do at the conclusion of a conversation

The abnormal heat has been broken by thunderstorms, but the humidity lingers.  

And so, this Saturday fades away, just another day.

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