Cosmic Balance

Because I have not the creativity to write something fresh and original, an excerpt from tonight's email to Kaylin:

Currently, it is 9 degrees outside, 8:39pm, and all the kids are asleep. Bruce is sipping Jack Daniels and watching "Oceans 13". I am also sipping Jack Daniels, eating Costco salted peanuts, and reading a book (when not writing to you, or scoping an eye-full of the "eye-candy" starring in "Ocean's 13").

[Incidentally, the book in question is "The Air We Breathe" by Andrea Barrett - a library-b00k. But lest you think I've conquered by book-buying habit: yesterday I spent $43 on books: approximately 18 used books and one new.]

We ate dinner at a new-to-us restaurant tonight - O'Brady's - just a three minute drive from home, and enjoyed the experience. It was christened with a not-quite-ER-injury on Evan's forehead: a walnut-sized lump in the dead-center of his forehead, with a nasty blood-blackened crease running vertically through the lump's center. One more layer of skin and it would have been record-breaking numbers of stitches.

As it was, we enjoyed our pitcher of Pike Kilt Lifter (perhaps more than we might otherwise have enjoyed it), burgers and fries, and an entire bottle of Heinz ketchup. The cause of Evan's injury? My silly son fell off his restaurant chair face-first into the chair next to him. You'd think this kind of injury would have happened during the sledding we did before lunch today, on less-than one inch of snow (desperate times, as they say). But no, no head injuries during sledding; only while sipping orange soda.

Ah well. If it makes you feel any better about all the health issues so many of our friends and family have so lately been afflicted with: I had an eye-doc appt today and there is absolute NO EVIDENCE whatsoever of tumors in my eyes or optic nerves. (Not that I thought there might be, but with how things have been going lately, how rare is it to have the most benign doc visit reap a non-lethal, nee NORMAL, prognosis?)

[The yang to the above's yin: as of Jan. 1, 2008, our vision insurance will no longer be accepted at this particular eye-doctor. In an attempt to change our vision coverage during the Federal Government's (e.g. "The Man's") insurance open-season, which occurs every fall, I quick cell-phoned Bruce between glaucoma-puffs and dilation. He informed me that our ability to change vision plans for all of 2008 closed 5-days- ago.]

Rejoice, I say!

So much joy had we over my diagnosis, that we went to out to dinner to celebrate - at O'Brady's restaurant - during which time, Evan severely bonked his wee head.