The cyst will come out tomorrow...

A collection of completely random thoughts:

My last day at work. Everyone keeps telling me it will be fine. I'll be able to work in 10 days or so. What they don't understand is that given a choice between politics and stress or pain, I'll take the pain, thank you very much! If my doctor is tough and won't let me go back to work early, I think I'll be just fine with that.

I'm not worried. I don't know enough to be nervous about the pain, since I've never been injured before. I'm more worried about what I'll be like after a week of sitting around. Without my bike ride and climbing, I get a bit twitchy.

The other day, the VP in charge of this account stopped by. As mentioned before, we affectionately call him The Devil. He starts telling me stories of how soon he was working after having his gall bladder out. How it only took three days before he grabbed back his Crackberry after his liposuction. I actually laughed in his face as I said, "That's cool. I can tell you now, I won't be back that fast! I don't have a need to be needed." My creative director was with us and he started coughing he was laughing so hard.

I'm grateful I have the health insurance to cover this. Grateful I have job security. Heck, it's taking three people to replace me. When I sent the intro list to our client, there were a total of five people (including the two positions for the help I'd already needed). Compared to all that, I'm cheap!

OTRmama and her dog Azure are on their way down from Portland. They stopped for an overnight last night in Northern California. My MIL is sad that she can't come to help. I've tried to tell her it's not that I don't want her, it's just a neat opportunity to spend time with my Mom's best friend. I know she understands in her head, but I can tell she's hurt. If I didn't have OTRmama coming, I'm sure it would have been fine to have had my MIL. It's just that she comes with my FIL attached, and I don't see that being stress-free AT ALL.

In any case, having OTRmama is as close as I can get to having my Mom come. We grew up a block away from them. Her three daughters are the same ages as the three of us. They were a source for TV (I remember a summer of All My Children), art lessons, playing with Barbie, laughter, cats and goldfish with mile-long tails. She's bringing Mom's bread recipe (I never have learned to bake).

I raided the library and am well stocked. I found The Muppet Show, Season 1. My So Called Life, Seasons 2, 3, 5. One of my work friends is bringing in the box sets for Friends, Gilmore Girls and Sex in the City. The comments for what to do while sick have been really helpful. It sounds like I'll have the attention span of a six-month old kitten, so I figure sitcoms are the way to go. I do have a few books, but nothing super serious.

On Ash Wednesday, I went to a Lutheran church nearby. I grew up in a (very unconventional) Lutheran church and miss those traditions on the high holy days: Ash Wednesday, Advent, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter. During the service, I asked the Lord what I should give up for Lent. I could feel him laugh quietly. I realized, "Oh, I'll be immobilized for most of it! I'll truly have time to enter into the rest, silence and Presence that You keep calling me to seek. I guess that's plenty to give up (and gain), huh?" Gentle agreement.

I'm looking forward to it.