Filling a Prescription

Filling a prescription should be easy, in the past it has been easy. And then a hiccup, a road block, some misinformation and the prescription doesn't occur....for days.

When it comes to waiting on folks to unravel a tangled ball of yarn I admit a weakness of impatience.

When it comes to waiting for a doctor to respond, I admit impatience.

I have been requesting a refill of some medicine for over a week. The doctor issued the prescription 3 weeks ago, but he didn't send it to the pharmacy.  So when I tried to refill the prescription I was told by an automated voice that I had no more refills.

That starts the launch sequence.

I call the Pharmacy, the pharmacy calls the doctor....

Doctor waits 2 days to respond, his response is sent to the main office, the main office waits 2 days and sends the response to the pharmacy.

The Pharmacy looks at the prescription and the MG is wrong.  After 2 days they send a message to the doctor, the doctor waits 2 days and sends a response back to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy never calls me, the doctor of course never calls me...so when I called to check on the prescription, I find out it was never refilled, then they tell me the whole story (without all the wasted time, I figured that out on my own).  I call the doctor's office, they say they will send a message to the doctor who will respond within 24 hours.

Noooooooo!

I get in the car and drive to the doctors office, I tell the receptionist the situation and ask her for a paper prescription I can give to the pharmacy.  She tells me the message has been sent and I should hear something within 24 hours.

Noooooooo!

I make direct eye contact with her and say, "I will wait right here while you ask the doctor to write the prescription."

"You'll wait?  It might be a long time."

Seriously? It has already been a long time. but this is about honor now...

She shrugs and disappears, when she returns she tells me it may be 30 minutes. So my message to the universe is my phone is almost dead and if you don't hear from me again I was last seen in my doctors waiting room.

Forward my mail please...... address it to "tenacious"



Note - I did wait, she did return and I did get the prescription refilled.

A Girl Just Trying To Have Fun

If you're like me and can't get enough of errands on Saturday read on.

This Saturday is the day I fulfill a promise to go exercise with a friend. As we drive there she tells me about the whole operation.  Do what you can, don't do anything to hurt yourself, don't worry if you throw up or pass out.  

Wait....

I have no intention of passing out in front of people I don't know, I would rather pass out in front of people who would feel obligated to take really good care of me.

Then the woman next to me passed out.  

Wait....

Isn't this the kind of thing they put on warning labels? Don't operate heavy machinery, don't spill this coffee in your lap....don't go to exercise classes where people could pass out.

I worked around what didn’t look fun.  My burpees were lame, my push ups were against the wall and forget  "running man".  I knew my water would break and I'm not even pregnant.  The woman who passed out spent the rest of the class on the ground, feet propped up, a fan focused on her face and an ice pack on her head.  Good to know.

Then a few errands. Go to Kohls, return stuff to Walmart, get gas, haircolor at the Beauty Supply, Sam's for water, chicken and Asian Salad.

It wasn't as easy as you might think.

I watched a woman at Kohls stand for 15 minutes in front of the shoes I wanted to try on. Since the aisles are 10 inches wide there was no room for both of us.  I found shoes but turned around for one second and a salesperson (something I wasn't even aware existed at Kohls) came through and put my box back on the shelf!  And not where it was before so I search then find the shoes.  I go stand in line, to check out only to hear I had saved $68 dollars with my coupon.  Kohls mysterious language of finance. Mark it up to here, discount it, and then try and fool you with a huge number you saved. 

Now gas! The line is forever long so when I finally get to the pump there’s a sign, a very small sign, that reads credit only-no debit.  I look at my debit card and reluctantly drive away to get back in line. Now the line is twice as long so I skip to my next stop...... 

I arrive at the beauty supply to buy my hair color but it isn't on the shelf. I drag an employee away from staring out the window to find it. Then the story they always tell when they don’t want to look for anything is my color is discontinued. Argh!!  As I leave (without hair color) a woman with a Yorkie in her purse asks if she should dye her gray hair blonde. Of course! Not happy with my approval she and the Yorkie ask every woman in the store including the girl with the nose ring, tattoos and blue hair.  

Now Walmart!  I walk in with my bag for the return counter and try to get past the gatekeeper. She puts a sticker on every item I am returning. I have 20 packages of dowels, a broken mixer and some chocolate chips. After 20 minutes at the return counter I feel as though a prison break had occurred. Armed with $42 on a WalMart gift card and endless spending possibilities I buy 3 cantaloupes, a knee brace and a pumice stone.

Now to Sam’s where I walk all the way to the back of the store for bottled water and find they have moved all the water.  A prank Sam's Club pulls often, they like to load up pallets of products then fling them around the store.  Big box store fun.

Then back to the gas pump where the lines are still long but this is errand number last so no choice. Next to me I watch 4 guys pushing a truck to the pump.  

That is how long he had been in line.

Now, who has more fun than me?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Stay in the light

The other day I was annoyed, mad, angry, cresting on a tantrum because I didn't think there would ever be enough time to write.  I have to work and when I am not working I think about work, which translates to me that there isn't time to do what I really want to do.  (I make these leaps often, see my husband on this.)  I know there is a bestseller just under the surface if only I had the time.......uh, oh sure....bestseller...more time should do it, right?

 Blah, Blah, Blah...

As I considered being shortchanged with the whole unfairness of it all, the madder I became. What an unhappy emotion anger is! It robs us of finding solutions or feeling hope. Steeped in anger I was standing in such darkness I couldn't see that this episode was strictly focused on me......

I, I, I, I.

It is true that concentrating on ourselves simply does not provide the right amount of light to create, stay positive, be productive or have hope. But I was too mad to realize that.

I, I, I.....

Then this came to me...

"Creativity cannot occur when anger is your dominant emotion."

I know that wasn't my thought because I was too mad to be smart.  After that idea settled on me a brilliant article on creativity showed up on my emails, which led me to reassess.  The ideas were positive and full of possibilities. It was easy to see my flourescent anger as it glowed alongside what the article was offering.

As my anger abated I realized lots of writers have day jobs.  After all, Chekhov was a doctor.  (Maybe that's why he wrote short stories.)

Who knows if I have a bestseller, or even another readable sentence in me? What is obvious is I am the only one standing in the way of finding out. Creativity ends at the base of anger.  Outside of Mein Kampf what has ever been written in anger that lives on?  Twitter, Facebook and texts are the graveyard of so many careers, relationships or futures when in the hands of angry people and a keyboard.

We must believe we can accomplish what we have been called to do or it will never happen.

Nothing is created with inertia, because energy is required to be creative. What are high energy emotions?  Hope, faith, charity, love, optimism, belief in ourselves and those around us.  Tell your spouse, children or any other loved ones...."I believe in you, I trust you, I love you."

Just watch their reaction after hearing that....they will simply fly!

And then turn those words to yourself....stay in the light.