Last evening Susan came to me and reported that she was feeling especially grateful for the kindness that people had show us. She cited three examples. Our day had begun by meeting a new urologist who had added an appointment slot before the beginning of his regular day so that I wouldn’t have to wait to meet with him. Had he not done so, it would have been weeks before I could get an appointment and we might have had to rearrange some very important things in our schedule including our trip to South Carolina tomorrow. Most of the time we have to wait to see doctors, especially specialists. His kindness in adding an extra appointment to a long day made a major difference to us.

After we visited with the doctor we stopped by the pharmacy to get our annual flu shots. The pharmacy technician informed us that they normally don’t start administering injections for another hour, but that they had time to go ahead and give us ours since we were there. It was a kindness that we know we wouldn’t have received at a chain pharmacy.

In the afternoon, the hinge on Susan’s glasses separated from the bow. This threatened to cause a major disruption because we leave very early tomorrow on the first of three flights that will take us to South Carolina where we will visit with our daughter and grandson. Ordering new frames generally takes about a week. However, two people at the optical shop went through all of their spare parts to find a replacement bow that, while not an exact match for the broken one, was close enough to work well and look good on her glasses.

Three examples of kind people going out of their way to help us. As she spoke, I realized that I needed to add another gratitude to the ones she was recounting. I am so grateful for her kindness in recognizing and reporting the kindness of others we had experienced. Frankly, I had not been exactly writing a gratitude journal when she came down the stairs and began talking to me.

I started my day by learning that the strategy of Active Surveillance which I am following with close medical supervision for my prostate cancer means more tests and more time without having a specific action plan. My new urologist has ordered a genetic test on the samples that were taken when I had my biopsy. He also ordered an MRI of my prostate and the surrounding area. If those tests do not reveal any surprises, the plan will be to repeat tests, including biopsy on a regular basis. While I am confident we have chosen the right plan for now, it is frustrating for me. I had hoped that we might have a more direct path to have the cancer cells removed from my body. Although I know medicine doesn’t work that way, I would like to have someone declare that I am cancer free sometime soon.

Then I was disappointed because the pharmacy does not yet have the new Covid booster injection that has been promised, but is slow to be available. I had hoped to have that injection at the same time as the flu shot so that we could travel knowing that our immunizations were all up to date. While we are not at risk, having had regular injections, it is just one more thing that will require follow up.

I was mulling my frustrations with the normal process of aging. It seems like I always have a string of medical appointments on my calendar. I have some minor aches and pains. There is a bit of arthritis in my hand that has been bugging me. My plan to lose weight has hit a plateau and while I haven’t gained back the weight I lost, I can’t seem to lose the final pounds I want to lose. I can get myself into a litany of self pity without much effort, and I was heading in that direction.

But I have the blessing of a partner who has shared more than a half century of marriage and family life with me. And she came to me to express her gratitude and remind me of the kindness of people that graced our day. In doing so she invited me to share that gratitude. Looking back a few hours later, I know that she was so right. Yesterday was a day for which I am grateful. We had a good time doing a bit of math tutoring with our grandson. I have sometimes been frustrated with my attempts to teach him, but yesterday’s session went well. He cooperated and worked hard and clearly understood the concepts of the lesson. Transformations of 2-dimensional shapes is a part of geometry that is fun for me. I was studying those lessons as I was preparing for my private pilot’s test when I was a student and navigation problems require some of the same kind of thinking. The beginning of a new school year is an opportunity to make some fresh starts in learning and we seem to have a strategy for our grandson that promises to be less frustrating than last year.

I am genuinely excited about our trip. We fly from Vancouver to Salt Lake City, from Salt Lake to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Columbia, South Carolina. Back in 1996, I was part of a planning team for a National Youth Event that was held in Columbia, so the trip from Salt Lake is one that is familiar to me. I make several trips over that same route. And we’ll arrive in time for grandparent’s day at our grandson’s school. We have lots of other fun plans for our visit, including celebrating our daughter’s birthday. This year we’ve been with every member of our immediate family on their birthday except for our son in law who is deployed and was not able to be with family on his birthday. Our daughter and South Carolina grandson was visiting us on his birthday so we had almost our entire family together for that celebration.

I have enough life experience to know that the solution to a pity party is a refocus to a gratitude journal. Sometimes, however, I need to be reminded of the things I know. Fortunately, I have a partner whose perspective continues to make all the difference in the world. For that I am indeed grateful.