the skin doctor

Though I loathe the expression, I’ve been in a funk.  Hazel, who lives in Chicago, writes and asks if I’m okay, since I haven’t written in a while.  Yes, I am fine, but my problems (some big, some small) overwhelm me.  I am consumed by thoughts that don’t make me happy.

I have bills totalling $22,400:  school tuition, health insurance, rent, and home insurance.  I am forced to sell stock from my very small etrade account.

No more DVD’s are arriving in the mail; screening season is about over.

I look at my dwindling retirement funds and see that it, too, is small and dwindling — down 67% from when I lost my job in 2006.

Alexander will be returning to school soon and I will miss him.

I have no prospects for earning money.

Freezing weather has been replaced by high 40’s, and still no snow.

We only have one episode of Homeland, Season Two left to watch; it is by far the best series on television.

My Words With Friends app keeps crashing; I re-bought it and it still doesn’t work.

My dad is in rehab again; he fell, and is now recovering, but it looks like a long recovery— he’s in pain still, and my mom spends her days at his side.

My sofa pillows are shedding too much.

I get up early and go to my dermatologist’s for a routine exam.  It’s an early appointment and the subway is packed.  Some heavily-accented borough girl loudly shouts, “What’s with you?  Stop touching my ass.”  Though of course I’m not, the rest of the subway now thinks I am.

My dermatologist, whom I’ve been seeing since 2004 and adore, tells me my skin looks amazing, and that it’s remarkably improved since I started seeing her and had lots of pre-cancerous spots. “Money aside, “ she says, “You don’t need to do anything, surgically or otherwise.”

My health is good.  Alexander’s is too.  My other concerns suddenly seem more manageable.

I stop by the Apple store on my way home, and one of the geniuses there shows me how to re-install Words With Friends. The download is successful.

It’s sunny and cold (somewhat).  A nice winter's day.  Life is good.