Starbucks

Gilbert was a great dog today. He greeted patients and took my assistant Hannah for a walk in the sunshine. On the drive into work in my convertible he hung his head out the window and let the wind blow his ears straight backward. I swear he was grinning with glee. Looking at him I remember simple pleasures.
Inhaling I appreciate the fragrances of summer. There are so many flowers blooming now. I see them around me even though this Starbucks is essentially situated on a parking lot by a busy street. The MacDonalds, open 24 hours is kitty corner to me.
Before I took Gilbert to his favourite off leash dog walk, reward for his patience lying under my desk all afternoon while I worked, I listened to CBC on the car radio coming home. The Egyptian Military has taken over the country and has Islamic Brotherhood arrested and the president removed. Early elections are promised and people are dancing in the streets. I think it must be more complicated than reported. Just as a BC man and woman were arrested for terrorism today, their basement suite investigated and the place a hovel. Sun news reported the police shooting of an arrested man's dog.
A patient told me of assisting at a post partum bleed. I almost cried remembering. The woman she helped with survived but the description triggered the nights when I alone wrested bleeding women from the gates of death. I think her description of the woman being 'grey' triggered a flood of memories like the blood that bathed the bed so many years ago. It's been years since the nightmares ended but I heard the screams and sounds again.
I'm thankful for the smell of flowers, my dog's wagging tail greeting and meeting other dogs. This Starbucks Chai Tea is wonderful. It reminds me of nights in Bombay when Hindoos, Siks, Muslims, Christians and Jews sat about on the street drinking tea and discussing politics and religion. Whenever knives were being drawn an old man would say, "One God" and we'd all settle down to enjoy the cool night's reprieve from the heat of day. I loved that Chai Tea. This is very good.
So many blonds. A half dozen beautiful young women have passed this way in a mattter of minutes. A fellow I admire returned from Montreal and confirmed the women of St. Catherines street remain unsurpassed. I remembered the self care and fashion but he insisted it was their confidence and character. He's French and I trust his judgement on the matters of the gorgeous French women of Montreal.
The World Congress of Al Anon is meeting in Vancouver this weekend. I registered to be there sometime in the spring when the clouds and rain were still upon us. Now that the summer sun and blue sky are here I have second thoughts about spending time inside on the weekend. I need to go. I need more love and understanding for the alcoholics and drunks who aren't in recovery. I encounter their attitudes in person and the news routinely. I need to better accept diversity and live and let live. This morning traffic was held up at Main and Hastings by drunks and addicts staggering about in the streets. The Vancouver mayor's solution has been to threaten car drivers fines and encourages more playing with death in this death culture. A man on his bicycle crossed in front of me out of nowhere living by the alertness and good will of drivers on their way to work while he bare chested careered among the cars like it was a circus.
I was happy at work to have the new DSM5, American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry arrive. It's really a very fine book and lacks any of the devilry detractors accused it of. There's the same old extension of mental illness into normalcy and the naming of conditions to sell some medication for but nothing at all so terrible as the alternative health care lies and propagandist fear mongerers. It's just a very good attempt at naming things we as clinicians see are awry and in away this cookbook helps us speak among ourselves. It's always been misused by the State but so are our taxes. What's new. I was thankful to see all the excellent research and thought occasioned by the book and appreciative of my profession's embracing the most difficult of tasks. It wasn't a hundred years or two there wasn't even agreement on words in a language. Now we share complex ideas and themes like musicians in an orchestra. I love the sound of harmony.
My dog is bored with me. I've finished the chai. It's time to go home and have an elk roast sandwich. It's the last of the hunt's meat from that fine animal. I could go fishing but while I think of these things to do in the evening, it's much more common that after a fine meal I'm more likely to lie and read the fine novel I'm reading right now called Thieves of Heaven. I really ought to study Hebrew. Learning the sounds of the Middle East I appreciated more the vocal tone of the CBC clip of the Egyptian General who spoke after taking over the country. I'm thankful to be in Canada today.


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