Usually I like my job. Like most people there are days when I dread going into work, hearing patients complain about their various maladies (especially the "black holes" that suck all the life from the room), trying to be empathetic and patient without losing my mind. But then there are days when I love my job.


I work in Cardiac Rehabilitation and we recently started a new group of patients. There's always a little chaos trying to match a face with a name and diagnosis. But this particular group has a woman in it that has recently had a heart transplant. That in itself is not unusual.....neither is the fact that she is fairly young (early 40's). The unusual part is her medical history which I can't share here for privacy reasons. But let's just say she's been through quite a bit with her heart health for someone her age. She went through a couple years where she couldn't do much activity at all because of her health and this is after spending years as an active exerciser and weight lifter.

Anyway, she came in like most heart transplant patients do....with a mask on. They have to take so many anti-rejection drugs that catching a cold is serious business. I handled her first day of exercise and began by explaining the 12 minute walk test we were going to do to get a measure of her current fitness status. When I told her I'd be putting her on a treadmill she reacted like a kid being told they're going to Disneyland! She was SO excited!! She started crying happy tears and hugged me multiple times!! It was so cute and sweet!

Once we got started on the treadmill, she just couldn't get over the fact that she was actually exercising. She walked for about 20 minutes and I wasn't sure if I should put her on a bike or not - I didn't want to tire her too much. But she was gung ho for the next event! Having patients excited to exercise is something we almost NEVER see! It was great to see her excitement about the whole program and she is continuing to progress wonderfully!!

Sometimes I LOVE my job!

Date Much?

I have been using online personal for dating in San Diego on and off for several years now. It is always a different experience meeting people from online! Many times it ends up just being a first date that is pleasant but not memorable, therefore not requiring a second date. I recently ended a five month break from online dating and signed up on yahoo personals. I had a memorable date last week but memorable in a bad way.

I had been talking to this guy, we'll call him Ron, for a couple weeks over email and he came across as charismatic and nice. He is a swim coach that was living in L.A. but was laid off due to budget cuts. He came back to his native San Diego area and was lucky enough to get a job at a local high school in the North County area. We talked on the phone a couple times and agreed to meet up. He lives in North County (which is about a 45 minute drive from me) and had some great cafe that he wanted to show me. I had an appointment for a haircut and told him I'd call him around 3:30 when I thought I'd be done. The haircut took a little longer than I expected and he had called at 3:30 to find out if I was done. I called him back and mentioned that I needed to go home and change clothes before heading up to his area. We agreed that I would call him when I reached an exit on the freeway so that he would have a better idea of when I'd be at the cafe.


Ron ended up calling me before I left my place to find out if I had left....then called again about 20 minutes later when I reached the exit we were going to use as the calling point. Then he wanted me to call him when I got onto the other freeway that would take me to the exit for the cafe. Instead he called me right when I was getting onto the freeway and changed our meeting place. Apparently he decided that the cafe wasn't good enough and wanted to go to a better restaurant. That's fine but a little annoying after all the phone calls. As I pull into the parking lot for the new meeting place, I get yet another phone call from Ron stating that he had something come up and is running a little late.

So I went to the bar and got myself a beer, luckily I only waited about ten minutes before he showed up. He apologized again for being late and explained that his sister accidentally cut him on the arm with a knife (why they were playing with knives, I have no idea). At this point I also learned that he was currently living with his parents and his sister.....he's 36 years old. So we ordered appetizers and drinks, after which he told me he probably wasn't going to eat because he had a late lunch with a friend and he wasn't hungry (nice,huh?). So this was basically my dinner which I didn't eat much of because it's AWKWARD eating in front of someone who is NOT eating!

Aside from that, most of the conversation was good except that he kept jumping in with compliments. Normally that's fine...who doesn't like a compliment? But when he kept repeating the same compliment about five times throughout the night (my haircut looked really good), it gets a big insincere. That and he kept asking me why I was single...."why is such a beautiful, great woman like you single?!" Thanks for the compliment and for rubbing it in my face that I am still single after all this time......I ALWAYS appreciate that!

We ended up going to a different place and had a couple more drinks....at this point Ron is getting tipsy. Tipsy leading to loud and obnoxious....and more complimentary. Maybe he was nervous, maybe my beauty was just SO overwhelming!! HA! I don't think so.....it was annoying. So we walked back to the parking lot where he kissed me (once on the lips which I ended rather quickly). Ron wanted to know if we could talk in my truck. Seriously? I flat out told him there wasn't going to be a make-out session! Nice try buddy. I ended up driving him home because he was too drunk to drive! Yet another point for Ron.....doing great on this date! Upon dropping him off he gave me directions for getting back to the freeway, since I am unfamiliar with the area, and told me to call him if I got lost. Whew! Done with all that!! But then five minutes later, as I am getting on the freeway, he called to make sure I found it. Ok, that's nice and all.....thanks for that. Then about twenty minutes later he called AGAIN! This time I don't know why. I figured it was him and picked up my phone to check the caller ID. When I picked it up I accidentally answered it but still held the phone away from me. I hear him calling my name.....I've definitely had enough at this point, so I hung up the phone and then turned it off.

That was the end of a VERY long night!! I don't know if he had self esteem issues or was desperate to be with someone or what his deal was! He called me the next day and left a message saying he had a great time. Uh-huh....sorry I can't say the same! That was all a bit overwhelming!! Thankfully I have not heard from him again and interestingly enough, he deleted his profile on the personals site. Hmmm.....maybe it's time to deal with personal issues?

I am hoping the next date will go better!

Uncle Bill

My Uncle Bill passed away last week...he had been fighting lung cancer for awhile but it was still unexpected for me. It's still a bit surreal because I haven't seen them in about 5-6 years but that doesn't mean that I won't miss him! I thought I would post the obituary that was in the local paper (Kansas City, MO).

William L. "Bill" Tade, 70, of Lee's Summit, MO, passed away June 5, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Judy; his daughters Kristin (Mark) Harris with grandchildren Madison and Will and Mehgan (Brad) Rishmany with grandchildren Ella and Jack (born on Grand Dad's birthday!). Also surviving are sisters Louise Cohlmeyer and Margaret Miller and their families. Bill served honorably and with pride in the Army in the 82nd Airborne Division and then went on to teach in the Hickman Mills School District for 30 years. His retirement years were spent visiting every Mid-Continent Library in the area, keeping an immaculate yard and most of all thoroughly enjoying his grandchildren. His sense of humor will be greatly missed. Instead of a funeral, there will be a celebration visitation, a time to gather in Bill's honor and appreciate friends. This will be held Tuesday June 9th from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at Newcomer's Longview Funeral Home, 12700 S. Raytown Road, Kansas City, MO. (816-761- 6272) In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in honor of Bill are suggested to Village Hospice, 400 NW Murray Road, Lee's Summit, MO 64081, or to American Lung Association 2400 Troost Ave., STE 4300, Kansas city, MO 64108. Online condolences may be left at www.dwnewcomers.com.

Surprise! Well....not really....

My brother got married yesterday. I'm a little surprised and yet....not. He's been with his girlfriend for about five years or so. But it's not the length of their relationship that makes the marriage seem unsurprising. Meagan (Todd's girlfriend) is going into the Army in a couple months and IF she gets through boot camp and actually gets into the Army, then she will get more money for being married. This is their reason for getting married! This is why I am not surprised....it's typical of Todd to have a bad reason for making a big decision like this.

So apparently they went to Phoenix yesterday and had a civil ceremony. I don't even know if they had any friends there. My parents are visiting me right now, so they weren't at the ceremony. Todd has alienated most of the friends he used to have, so it wouldn't surprise me if there was no one there.

Many of you have heard my stories of my brother....he and I are NOT close. Well, that's an understatement. We aren't on speaking terms and haven't been for awhile now. It's a long story that I am not going to get into on here but this is just another item on the long list of bad decisions he has made (in my opinion).

....And that's about all I have to say about that!

Vain as a Peacock

Apparently that idiom has some justification! I was at the San Diego Zoo this past Sunday with my parents and we witnessed some interesting behavior from a peacock. There was a zookeeper trying to make a U-turn in his truck on one of the roads and this peacock was checking out his reflection in the front bumper.
The zookeeper would get out of the truck to chase the bird away but by the time he got back in the truck, the peacock was right back in front of the bumper again!! After watching this poor guy unsuccessfully chase the peacock for a few minutes, another zookeeper came on the scene and helped to get the peacock away from the truck long enough for the driver to make the U-turn.

That bird just couldn't get enough. The zookeepeer finally got his truck turned around and started driving down the road only to have the peacock CHASE the truck down the road! I have NEVER seen a peacock run and that was HILARIOUS!! Get that bird a mirror!

Sale Pending

I knew my parents were selling their house and I knew that they had received an offer after it being on the market for a mere four weeks, but I was not prepared to pull up to the house and see the For Sale sign in the front yard. This is the house that I have lived in since I was two months old! This has been my home for thirty-four years and I cannot imagine my parents not living there anymore. If I had a home of my own, maybe I wouldn’t feel as strongly about the loss but I’ve been a renter for awhile now, so this home in Phoenix was always my home. With thirty-four years invested in the home, it’s been the only home my parents have known for half their lives too!

It’s not just the home itself though, it’s the whole area. I grew up in that neighborhood and some of our neighbors have been there for forty years. I love the little park that is a few blocks away – the same park my Dad walks the dogs at almost every day. It’s the same park where we planted a tree in memory of our past family dog Brittany. I remember when there were horses kept next to the park (before they built homes there) and I remember learning how to ride my bike in that park. I had friends my age who lived in the neighboring streets and we all grew up together in that same neighborhood, we played at each other’s houses and went to the same schools from grade school to high school. I know the streets that have the best lighting displays at Christmas and I used to know the ones that gave out the best candy for Halloween.

The deal is currently in its final process and my parents are going to be out of our home by May 1^st. How they will get thirty-four years of furniture, knick-knacks, and memories out of the house in the next couple of weeks, I do not know. For me, I know there have already been many tears and I am sure next weekend will bring many more. I am going to Phoenix to help them move much of their furniture and belongings into a storage shed. It will be very hard to see the home empty. I was just back home in mid-March and documented our home as it is now so that I would have the photos – my own way of mourning. So I will share some of those photos with you…

This is the inside of the front door and a common sight – the dogs love lying on this tile, it’s nice and cool. Bailey is on the left and Sadie is on the right. Plus this allows them to constantly monitor the goings on of the street.

This shows more of the living room, the first room you walk into from the front, with my Dad’s lazy boy (now Sadie’s favorite chair) and my Grandmother’s player piano which will be mine once I have a place for it.

As you move from the living room, you enter into the kitchen which is also open to the family room (to the right) and the patio or Arizona room (towards the back of the house). The kitchen is the only room in the house that hasn’t been updated since my parents moved in thirty-some years ago – evidenced by the lovely orange counter, orange/yellow wallpaper, and very plain wooden cabinets….all of which I will miss!! That counter came in handy for holding all the cookies that my Mom and I would bake for Christmas! Many happy memories in this kitchen – where I learned to cook, bake, and used to keep my list of chores on the refrigerator.

This is our family room which also opens into the patio (or Arizona room). It’s a nice open room that we usually used to display our Christmas tree and open gifts with a fire going in the fireplace. Christmas is a big holiday for my Mom and I – our favorite holiday in fact and we usually go all out. My Mom has more Christmas decorations than she can put up in the house butit always looks wonderful! I can’t imagine not having Christmas in this room anymore. I used to use the brick area in front of the fireplace as my little stage when I was younger – I put on many concerts for my Mom while she was working in the kitchen.

This is our wall of family photos – the top left is a photo of my Mom’s parents when they were younger. Her Mom died when she was in her mid-twenties and her Dad died when I was just three, so unfortunately I never really knew them. Top right is a photo of my Dad’s parents –

Grandma died when I was 13 and Grandpa died the same year I graduated from college.

In the bottom left photo is my Aunt Carol and my Uncle Tony – both older siblings of my Mom’s. The bottom right photo is all the Wheeler relatives (my Dad’s side) when they came to visit us in the early 80’s. We went to the photo studio that used to be in

Metrocenter where you could dress up in old style clothing

and have photos taken (I am in the bottom

right corner of the photo).

This is our patio or Arizona room with many of my Mom’s knick-knacks and our well worn

bookcase.

My Mom’s

little fairy fountain that she loves! It’s very sweet.

This is my Dad’s office although you can’t see

all of it from the doorway – its part of the patio. He’s semi-retired now but still spends many hours in here on the computer.

This is a view of our backyard with our kidney shaped pool, navel orange tree, and bottle tree. We have two navel orange trees and they were already planted when we moved into the house, so the oranges are so sweet and so good!! They make great orange juice – especially for Christmas brunch!

This pool has many memories too – we actually have video of me “competing” in the pool swimming back and forth when I was about 11. We also used to have BBQ’s with family friends and played volleyball in the pool. It used to be 8 feet deep but with the parties we had, my parents decided to fill in the deep end so that it’s just five feet deep.

This is my Mom's

little garden in our back yard.

She has used this little plot of land to grow garlic, lettuces, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, and eggplant. She also grows herbs

in other parts of the back yard.

This is my parents bedroom with their California king sized bed (which they share with the dogs) filling up most of the space. They have a nice sized window that overlooks the back yard.

This was

my brother’s bedroom – my parents had the loft built when he was younger so that he could have his desk underneath. The bedroom is set up with two beds now for showing to prospective buyers.

This is a little sign that has been hanging in our hallway bathroom for as long as I can

remember! I don’t know if it belonged to my Mom or my Dad but it was always a staple of our bathroom décor.

This was my bedroom – hard to see it all through the doorway. My bed is currently with me in San Diego; this was another single bed my parents had set up for showing the house. The dresser on the left was the one I used as I was growing up and the fan I got to pick out as a child (I remember thinking how great that was that I got to pick it out). The piece of furniture under the window is my Mom’s hope chest and the dresser on the right used to be in my Grandparents’ house in Missouri. I LOVED my room when I was growing up!! I’d spend hours in here playing with my Barbie’s, playing dress up with friends, or reading.

This shows the end of the kitchen cabinets where my parents kept the bills to be paid along with their knife set and my Mom’s kick-knacks. She had many of these little signs throughout the house with cute little sayings on them. This one reads “Pamper me, I know what goes in your food!”

This is just another shot of the front yard that shows most of our property. Our second navel orange tree is by the front door and there’s a lemon tree on the left side of the house. I spent many hours in this front yard practicing soccer,

playing catch with my Dad, practicing gymnastics,

doing flag routines for high school band, playing croquet and bocce ball as a family, and riding my bike up and down the street.

My parents by the front door – note the orange blossoms on the tree. There is nothing better than smelling that from your bedroom window! That smell will ALWAYS remind me of home!

This is the flower bed that my Mom always plants new flowers in each season – these are for spring/summer and in the fall she plants orange, red, and yellow flowers. The front window ledge is where I used to lay pine boughs, pinecones, and berries for decoration at Christmas.

I had to throw this last picture in here – my parents are trying to lighten up the mood as I’m taking photos. They’re both good at that but especially my Dad.

This has been a great home to have my childhood in and I can’t imagine a better one. I am still having trouble coming to terms with it being sold – it’s definitely like losing a member of the family.

Visit to North Carolina

I recently took a short trip out to Havelock, NC to visit my friend Christine and her husband Dave and 10 month old son Brenden. We had a great time exploring the nearby coastal towns and I took a bunch of pictures (shocking)! I will post a slideshow below - hopefully it works so you can see the captions too! Lots of historic homes with interesting architecture. I also got quite a few shots of Brenden the Boss man (aka The Cute)!! He is learning to walk and getting up to 8 steps or so now.......lookout Dave and Christine! I was sorry to go but have lots of great memories from my trip! Of course playing with Brenden was awesome too!!