Conversations rising from a lifetime trekking the ever-changing world of veterinary medicine
Chicago’s brownstone apartment buildings in the fifties and sixties were an explosion of sounds and smells. That’s where I grew up. The building we lived in had an inside front walk up three floors on tired old carpet. The smell of cigars and cigarettes blended with the various food smells in the air. And the …
This morning after chores I stood and watched Sun try hard to shine its brightest as it was rising. But clouds coming in from the southwest had other ideas. Brilliant rays burst up and shot to the top of the clouds. But, to no avail. Try as it might, the clouds slowly moved in and …
The night our house burned down we had nothing left but the clothes we had on when we left the house earlier that evening. That devastating and life altering event happened a long time ago. But, I admit there are times I wonder what it might be like if it happened today. The first thing …
“An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event.” Anniversaries are remembered for all sorts of reasons. And, something I find at this age is that I have quite a collection of …
She had a male black cat and a female black lab. I loved her right away because she reminded me of the mom of a kid I grew up with. Did you ever do that? Have a connection right away with someone because somehow the other person reminds you of someone you knew back home. …
It didn’t happen all the time. But it showed up enough. As time went on I started to notice a pattern. Pounding shifts night after night that never seemed to end would bring it on. A particular case in the ICU that went days into weeks could be bruising. Or an all-consuming ventilator case with …
My father really wanted me to be a lawyer. Actually, he wanted me to be a lawyer and a politician. It had been something he dreamt for himself. But the 1940’s and 50’s were a time of working hard for his family. He was lucky to graduate high school. Then, it was on to the …
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is you-er than you. Shout aloud, I am glad to be what I am. Thank goodness I’m not a ham, or a clam, or a dusty old jar of gooseberry jam. I am what I am, what a great thing …
What do you think happens when idealists get to be elders? I don’t mean ‘el-der-ly’. I mean elders. One of the ways we define humans is by age group. And as our society changes, we seem to modify the profiles around these age groups. Time is such a trickster. I remember when I was in …
Some call it intuition or gut feeling. I call it my “spidey senses” or my “higher self”. I’ve got a hunch; I’ve got a feeling… all those phrases we place on an internal trigger that’s hardwired in us. Primitive humans would use gut feeling as an additional tool to, say, escape being eaten by a …