Post Cards from New Mexico
My instant Gratitude for the hot dry air as I stepped off the plane
Driving up I-25 doing 75 mph as god intended (the speed limit I might add) blue blue sky above me, Sandias mountains on my right, the Jemez on my left in the distance and the whole desert opening up before me. Some part of me that had been closed and tight inside me opened up a little.
Breakfast at the range in Bernallio. Chai "freshly squeezed from an organic hippie" and Huevos con queso. Side of green chile I dumped on EVERYTHING. Strong coffee in a bright red fiestaware cup.
Serena's lovely Santa Fe home, Kodi the cat stalking sunflowers. Squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and lovingly fried in olive oil. Apricot almond upside down cake and Viognier. Rain beating down from the big open sky and the smell of sage and wet sand flowing through the house after the storm.
Walking under the aspens in big Tesuque in the wet bright morning. Say something funny I said, Penis she said. No photos with straight faces taken after that
Fall in northern New Mexico. Asters, sunflowers, growing like weeds by the side of the road
The busiest woman at SFCC wanted to talk about writing and the books in her head with no time to get out. My emails proclaim that I continue with equal interest in the poem and in medicine but I wonder where all my lost poems have been.
New Mexico lamb and misremembered gnocchi with Shell Bell and Bruci an evening of happy misremembering.
So I ask Colleen, how is our old friend Katrina these days...? She is known as Clarity now, Colleen tells me.
So, Colleen asks me, how is our old friend Shelley? She is known as Serena now I tell Colleen.
"You said our governor when speaking of Bill Richardson" Lisa delightedly informs me, jumping up and down in place a little... "that must mean you still think of yourself as a New Mexican.... "true" I reply, " but mostly because thinking of Schwarzenegger as 'my governor' makes me want to bathe... and I don't even know the name to the governor of New Jersey
Status Update.....
Big post about my surgery rotation brewing but in the mean time..
I am done with surgery, have two weeks off, which I am using to visit the west.. New Mexico and Northern California specifically.
As some of you know my Mom has had some significant health scares of late. She had what appears to be a toxic reaction to a cardiac medication that landed her in the cardiac ICU about a month ago. So this is my second trip to California in less than a month. She recovered well enough to have spinal surgery about a week ago that had been scheduled before her cardiac event. I am in Palo Alto to help. She is recovering well. She has only called me Nurse Ratchet once.
The weekend before I finished up Surgery I was rear ended by a teenager in her Daddy's Audi while I was on my way to get a coffee at Starbucks so I could wake up enough to study for my surgery final. My perfect new to me but old to everyone else '95 Nissan Sentra was totaled, but no one was hurt in the accident. The insurance company will be buying me a new old car. I feel like I should issue some sort of disclaimer, no really, my life usually is not full of so much chaos. But as Len reminded me.. bad new comes in threes and now I have had my three.. it should be smooth sailing from here on out...
I will be at a new hospital in early September when I start back, this one with a more urban population. I will be starting internal medicine.. and I am looking forward to it. This is the big split in the medical world.. medicine vs. surgery-- and I have always been reasonably sure I wanted medicine. It feels a little like starting over .. beginning again with what is really important.
These are some of the facts.. Real stories to come.
Save the date: January 15, 2014
Yup I am done with surgery. The road has been a little rocky, but in the end I know that medicine is indeed my professional home. I owe you all a nig post.. and it is coming
In the mean time I want to invite you to join me for my 50th birthday.. which is a little more than 5 years away. But I am celebrating by doing something that takes some saving for so I am giving you all notice. Can't buy the tickets for you.. but this is where I am going.
Think about it. I'll be making reservations about a year in advance.
Check out my plans here:
