The List

My first job as a nurse was at the U of MN hospital in Mpls. Even then parking was an issue. The cheapest parking lot was on the "flats" by the river. The downside was the long flight of stairs up to the hospital. The first building you came to was the heart hospital. I hope the patients weren't parking in that cheap lot.

Most mornings I start with a good walk to get the metabolism going. Today I walked downtown. Downtown really is down. We live up on high ground. It was a nice cool morning, and a nice walk down. The return trip has a few steep hills. It is almost five miles and as I climbed I thought maybe I won't do this again. Maybe I will. That reminded me of my mental list of things I won't do again. It is my way of coping with a bad situation. I keep telling myself if I get through this, I won't ever do it again. Here is the list:

THINGS I WILL NEVER DO AGAIN

1. Drive through the dessert in mid-August in the afternoon with three children in a car with 100,000+ miles on the odometer. We did this when our kids were young. It got so hot the engine would overheat if we used the A/C. There was a reason those wagon trains crossed at night.
2. Have dental work done without novacaine.
3. Have a flex-sigmoidoscopy. Thank the Lord they now recommend the colonoscopy procedure which uses drugs in the protocol.
4. Ride on Space Mountain in Disneyworld. I did this once--white knuckled. I never opened my eyes. My eight year old son had fun. I was terrified.
5. Go for a walk in the park on a warm fall day after spotting snakes sunning themselves on the asphalt. Everything in me warned me not to proceed. I was walking on a pathway when I spotted a snake in the path ahead. I screamed and turned to run the other way and ran into another snake. My walks on warm fall days are on sideways in town. Not a nature girl.
6. Take a small, prop commuter plane. Had an experience years ago on an ancient looking plane that I was sure would crash when it hit turbulence.
7. Cook halibut for my husband.
8. Wear 4" stilleto heels or a bikini.