Thinking it through

It's been more than a month since Youngest Daughter and I went camping in the Sierra. I don't understand how some things happen, I only know that being away for four days/three nights made an enormous difference to me. It was like the respite allowed me to get done what I needed to get done.

Since then I have watched almost no television. Historically, I'm not a huge fan of TV anyway, but I do admit to a major CNN addiction - hours and hours of the same news stories droning through my days. It's important to me to keep up with what's going on in our world, our country, our community, but because almost all of the news is beyond my ability to effect change, I really don't need to know many details.

Still and all, I recognize the news worthiness of this week, but I'm so used to staying away from television that I only allowed myself a 30-minute stint both yesterday and today to follow network news, being ABC-TV in my case. I approve of what little I observed - Ms. Kagan being our next Supreme Court Justice and the overturn of Proposition 8 here in California.

These are interesting times. Whenever I recall how poor my prognosis was 8-1/2 years ago and how I was quite certain I would die by the end of 2002, I look at all I've gotten to see and witness. Some of it is family news - grandsons entering golf tournaments - but some of it concerns the entire world, or at least some smaller piece of it. I feel so sorry for people who die (!) given that they miss out on so much!!! (If that thought is too weird, just remember I'm quietly entering my dotage these days...)