Sunday, March 25, 2012

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Met My Doppelganger

I was walking across the street this morning to visit my neighbor when I heard  a lady frantically yelling "Hey, you don't know me but I need to meet you!!" 
Me?? I looked around. 
"Yes, YOU."
 This lady in her workout clothes and sunglasses ran over to me explaining that I was her "twin." Then I remembered that yes, I do have a twin. When I was helping with Brynn's fieldtrip I remember walking past another mom who waved to me "Hi GG." That was weird but I dismissed it until not a few seconds later another mom walked past and also said, "Hi GG." Confused, I looked down to see if I was wearing one of those "Hello my name is GG" name tags. I wasn't.  Later, I had a whole conversation with a lady who apparently thought I was GG the whole time. It wasn't until the conversation turned to where we lived that she realized she was talking to the wrong person and then she could not believe her eyes. I almost had to fetch my I.D to seal her doubts.
I explained these bizarre happenings to my friends who exclaimed, "Oh yes!! We know her and well...I guess we can see why people would think that..." We had a good laugh and since then people have been claiming to see me around town in places I haven't been. 


Meg Ryan (not my doppelganger)
Soooo,after all that we finally met--and I was instantly flattered! This is the cute mom I'd seen around town that I always thought looked like Meg Ryan!!! When I told her that she confirmed that yes, she'd gotten that before.  Did I? "No", I shook my head, but I was feeling pretty fun so I said, "for me it's Reese Witherspoon!"  Ha! Ha!  Do I think I look like GG? No, darn it. But I'm flattered that others do . Anyway, apparently she gets called me half the time and I get called her some of the time and well, that's great because it turns out she's super fun. We've decided we should totally live this up and dress alike. And why stop there? she got the name and number of my hairdresser.

Now, traditionally, seeing one's own doppelganger is a sign of imminent death, but I just foresee a lot of fun times together reveling in our new sisterhood!!What a quirky day. It's not a lot of people in this world that get to meet and like their doppleganger...and live to tell about it.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Happenings on the Homefront

1. We attended our local caucus meeting last night. I'll sheepishly admit this was our first time but, now we're totally committed to being politically active. The Constitution is in shreds so it's gotta be now.  Brandon was nominated to be the co-chair delegate. He accepted and then had to make a speech because there was another nominee.  He wasn't prepared for any of this but whatever he said to his 200+ friends worked. He won and won't his mama be proud?!

 2. Brynn competed in her first official gymnastics meet. 5 gyms competed and we had to travel a couple of hours to get there but that's okay. I'm always up for a city trip. Brynn competed as a level 4. She was nervous but did a great job. She placed 3rd in vault and beam and 4th overall for her age and level. Bars is her favorite event. After, we went to Costco and walked around the mall, because, why not?!

3. I was driving on our old street to get to Kate's school when I saw our old neighbor's family outside. I pulled over to say hello. The family was there cleaning the house out and then they informed me Kenn, our old neighbor friend, had died.  We had some good memories with Kenn. We lived next door and he, being a lonely older man, would visit every day--sometimes 2-3 times a day! Yah, no kidding! He loved being around kids and he would bring over all kinds of treats to spoil their appetites. When we moved over to our new house we had him over for dinner until his health deteriorated and he was put in the care center.   My favorite thing about him was that he loved most of my cooking and I never heard him speak ill of anyone--ever!
The family asked if I wanted anything from the house. I wasn't going to but I did speak up about this chair. It was the one I would sit in when we went over to visit him. It had a nice rounded back and was low to the ground so I felt it was custom made for my short legs.  I know there was a cool story behind this chair--like it was specially made and imported from somewhere but I don't remember exactly! Darn it. Could you all send in your submissions and make a good story up for me?

4. My quartet wants to change our name because nobody should be called "Sevier" anything, especially a music group. I'm voting for Clear Creek Strings because it sounds like it could be classy or hoedown, which is the kind of broad appeal we're going for. Do you have any other suggestions or do you want to just tell me why you would want to hire a group with a  name like Clear Creek for your next special event?

5. Life with dog is getting better. She learned quickly to sleep through the night--much quicker than a newborn. She's giddy to see us in the morning and lavish us with her love, also when we come home from anywhere. I guess that's the universal appeal of having a dog. Would you believe she loves classical music. Really, she seems to be calmer and sleep more when I have it quietly playing in the background. That's the magic of Mozart for you. Imagine what it must do for humans.

Still basking in the glow of a great time. A lucky starfish from the tidepools of Dana Point.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Medical Adventures in Mexico


I'm back from living the vida loca, much to my family's relief.  How can I sum up such an amazing adventure?? I'll start by saying it was one of the highlights of my life. If you're reading and wondering what the heck I'm talking about then I'll kindly refer you to the previous post...

In front of our beautiful hotel in El Fuerte, MX
My sister, brother, friend, niece and I

The trip was really three trips. Any one of them on their own would have been awesome but together they were the bomb!

1. Medical Clinic in Sinaloa, Mexico
2. Whale Trip in Baja
3. California with Mom

Between the touchiness of my laptop and the blogger upload feature my pictures are quite scattered so we are going to be a little ADD here and jump around in the travelogue..



After putting in a 13 hour day at the clinic we joined some others in our group to celebrate the festivities in the plaza.
Flying over rural Mexico
At the clinic in San Blas, MX: The local ladies whipped up some awesome meals for us during our stay. We h ad tortillas and eggs for breakfast, potato tacos for lunch and chicken mole for dinner and of course lots of salsa and fresh fruit.  Authentic, delicious and I'm happy to report, no sickness!
Dana Point Harbor with mom (CA)

 
 Celebrating Dave's birthday at the ChartHouse Restaurant. When the waiter described the day's special I told him he had me at macadamia nuts. I ordered macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi that had been marinated in coconut milk and topped with mango salsa....mmm


 Baja, MX. I need to get down there, plant some palm trees, and build a little cabana on these undeveloped beaches!!  We weren't supposed to but we flew over the whale sanctuary and spotted 50 or so grey whales in the water below. We landed on a runway of seashells....ahhhh my kind of place.
 Curious baby whales accompanied by their mamas came over to play.
 Except for the barnacles they were rubbery smooth to the touch. I kissed one!
 Talk about rockin' the boat. These 50 footers would swim right under our raft. They could have flipped us if they were so inclined but no, they were very very gentle, peaceful, magnificent creatures.
Pilot and crew. We flew in this Cessna 4-seater plane from So. Cal all the way to Sinaloa, MX--home of the largest drug cartel in Mexico:)
 After a quick lesson in flying, I got to take control of the plane.  It only took me 10 stressful minutes to decide that flying wasn't for me.  
Dave and Shannon
This is what awaited us when we woke up after spending the night in the clinic--a long line of patients that had come from miles around.

Once admitted in the inside gates, patients were divided into areas according to what kind of doctor they needed to see. We had around 30 volunteers in our clinic: a couple of podiatrists and family medicine doctors, a pediatrician, dentist, cardiologist, general surgeon and even a chiropracter.

In scrubs and ready to get to work. We spent the first night in the clinic  in cots. Girls in one room boys in another. 2 bathrooms between us.
My sister and I were assigned to do triage, the front lines of the battle. Patients were admitted in a few at a time. We would fill out a card with their personal information, give them a number, take their vital signs, and send them to wait in the appropriate area.

When I wasn't translating or taking blood pressures I liked to sneak into the podiatry room to see my brother in action. Here he is giving my pre-med niece a lesson in steroid injections.

My brother was amazing with all his patients.  He made sure all the med students and volunteers had a great experience by letting them assist with a variety of procedures.  It is doctor Dave that really made our experience here truly phenomenal.

This little girl wanted to take a photo with me.  Her name is Ruby and when I had a break she told me all about herself.
 Scrubbing in for surgery.  I wanted to know if I could handle blood and guts. I was relieved to find out that I can--as long as the blood isn't mine.
 I helped my brother with a couple of bunion and hammertoe removals. He walked the med students through the procedure to help them get some experience in the operating room.  I even got to learn to do stitches--which is like crocheting only bloodier.
 These patients were given only local anesthesia for these surgeries. In the states you would be put under completely. I was amazed at the grit these ladies showed on the surgery table. After it all they were given a few expired pain meds from the pharmacy and sent home to recover.
Great experience and it won't be my last.   The closest I came to dying was driving my car in a UT blizzard to and from the airport.  Viva Mexico!