The first thing on my mind – I am so grateful for a good night’s sleep after nearly two weeks of very interrupted sleep. Yes, it was glorious. I slept deeply and soundly. And, something about sleeping caused my scalp muscles to relax. No more sore spot on top of my head. It is a wonderful day. Well, let’s not get carried away. Bluebirds aren’t flying around my head, there are no bunnies hopping around my feet and thankfully, no dwarfs singing “Hi Ho…”. However, there are crickets chirping outside and cute dogs laying on the floor about 3 feet away. And I got about 7.5 hours of sleep.

This is my second to last day of work before the surgery. I am pleased to say that I have very little left to wrap up before I go on medical leave. I have two patients to see, some paperwork, probably more reassurances to staff, and that’s about it. I planned it this way. I did not want to take a chance that I would be really nervous and unable to think clearly while having an inordinate number of tasks to complete. Consequently, I may struggle a little with boredom.

Though unrelated to my surgery, the conventions are on my mind. I watched much of both and though I missed everything except the president last night, we recorded it and I will watch tonight or tomorrow. I have a tendency to be a bit of a political junkie and have been on a maintenance plan for quite some time. Why? Because it gets me entirely too riled up and I have tried to decrease the level of stress in my life over the past few years. I used to turn on the news in the morning and watch the pundits in the evening. It just got to be more than I could manage. However, these past two weeks have pulled me back in. Instead of listening to the mindless comedy radio in the morning and my podcasts in the evening, I have been listening to NPR and progressive talk radio. While I am not going to opine about the parties and their positions (not the purpose of this blog), I will say that I am tired of the hate, maliciousness, exclusionary positions, and ego/ethnocentrism.  The candidate who can convince me that they are willing to bring inclusion, community, civility, respect, and honor to the White House is the one who will get my vote.

As I said before, my musings may be less focused these last few days, more just random thoughts. I appreciate your tolerance.

Okay, that said, while I worried that by today I would be so nervous that I could not think straight, I do not feel particularly nervous today. Sleep helped a lot, organization has given me a sense that everything that needed to be done will be done. I think it will be a good day.