Monday: An Encounter with an Angel

Today, in the morning, on my way to the office, I stopped by the bone density scan clinic to pick up a copy of the letter of authorization I had left behind.  They were having a problem with their parking system with the automatic gate not working, so a gentleman who was directing the cars allowed me to park in a side lane as I promised to be quick (in fact, he offered to pick up the form for me, but I explained that I had to sign a release document and it was unlikely they'd hand it to him); because I didn't park in their parking area, I didn't have to pay for parking!

As I was leaving the building, I came face to face with this angel.  This is the Earth Angel:

Earth Angel

Back in 2000-2001, and, again in 2002, there was a public arts project called A Community of Angels.  Some 400 fiberglass angels were painted and decorated and displayed in various spots throughout the city.  They were later auctioned off to benefit two charities.   This one was installed at the clinic and is known as the Earth Angel.  According to a picture I found online, at one time, it was seated in a grassy area, surrounded by flowering plants.  But now, due to the drought, the grass has been replaced with pebbles, the plantings are mostly restricted to the hedge, and the fountain in the background is dry in compliance with our water conservation requirements.  I thought it was a very telling setting for the Earth Angel.

I had a somewhat productive day at the office.  In between, I downloaded more forms pertaining to the retirement paperwork and started filling them out.  Well, I filled out one form, authorizing direct deposit of my pension to my checking account.  They needed a copy of a voided or cancelled check to get the routing number, etc., and that led to the discovery that I had just three checks left in my check book!  So, I called and requested additional checks!  According to the directions on the form, if you didn't have any checks, then, you needed to attach a letter from the bank with the account information.  If you wanted the pension to be deposited to a savings account, too, you needed a signature from a bank officer, confirming the information.  Yay!  One form down and a dozen more to go!  Well, OK, a slight exaggeration.  A half a dozen more to go (plus all the copies of various other documents they want!)  I was telling one of my colleagues that that was it; I wasn't going to retire; there were too many forms to fill out and it was too stressful! 

After I came home from work, I took the trash cans to the curb, took the kitchen trash out and put a new liner, put away the washed dishes from yesterday, put water to the indoor plants, turned on the sprinklers at the back, and did a load of laundry.  I also called the pharmacy about a refill and spoke with my daughter (she is putting together a list of websites for prostate cancer information for her friend, whose father has been recently diagnosed; her friend had called her to ask how we decided on my course of treatment, what side effects I experienced, etc.).  I can't believe that it was almost 3 years ago, later this June, that my mammogram results came back saying, "abnormal"!  And almost 2 years since I completed the chemo.  That was a tough year.

I wanted to take a nap, again, today, but didn't.  Yesterday's nap meant I couldn't fall asleep until 3:00 a.m. and then, I didn't want to wake up when the alarm went off at 7:00 a.m.!  The plan is to try and have an "early night" and get to bed by midnight, tonight,

Today, I am grateful for:
- I was able to get a copy of the authorization document
- I didn't have to pay for parking!
- I was able to get started on the retirement paperwork
- I was able to accomplish a few tasks from my mile-long to do list
- A safe drive to the office and back (saw yet another accident on the freeway)

Tomorrow, I plan to go to the office, fill out a few more retirement paperwork forms, bring in the trash cans, put water to the front garden, put away the dried laundry, and do another load.

How was your Monday?  What do you think of the Earth Angel?