So first the weekend re-cap, then a small rant.
I didn't get everything I wanted to get done on Friday, but mostly that's because I was resistant to dishwashing and cleaning. Still all of the big errands are done and now, this week, I can concentrate on packing, etc.
On Saturday, I went to meet up with S at his house. SS was there but was heading home. I think, perhaps, S has decided for the time being to give us each a little more personal time. I enjoy SS' company, but I have to admit that I love time alone with SS, as well. So I got to luxuriate in that experience this weekend.
We went to the Christmas Revels at the Scottish Rite Temple that night. We were running a little late and I was wearing heels (not something I do often), and we ended up running. I was quite proud of the fact that neither myself, S, nor any unsuspecting pedestrians were harmed in the process. The Revels were very fun. It is a musical that is done every Yule...this year the story was about a French Canadian community. I kept wondering if P'tit Loup had known about this. I'm sure she would have known many of the songs.
The next day, after some rather intense sex (I've never cried after sex, but on Sunday a.m. I found myself sobbing. I wasn't feeling sad, it was just intense.), we headed off to the community on the other side of the hill, Walnut Creek. People there are very fashionable. We went to a place called Heather Farm Gardens, and then to a wildlife museum. There were eagles, hawks, owls, a bobcat, a grey fox, a squirrel, and a mountain lion at the museum. It's also a bit of a rehabilitation center. All of these animals were either so injured that they couldn't be returned to the wild or they had been "pets" and then discarded (or like the mountain lion, neglected and removed from its "owner") and were to used to people to be returned to the wild.
We headed over to the Walnut Creek shopping area after that to see the shoppers and look at the strange things that are available in Macy's and Bloomingdales. Then, we went to watch the menorah lighting they had in one of the public areas. Lot's of songs that S and I could dance to (no one else was dancing, but we're Oaklanders so it's okay). Then after dinner, it was home.
Fair warning: rant to follow...I talked to my parents last night. My dad told me that the eye doctor has noticed some increased pressure in his left eye - glaucoma. He told me that he already has a cataract in that eye and the eye doctor is recommending that the cataract be removed, but he's resistant to the idea. He hasn't had sight in that eye since he as a child, so he figures that there is no reason for the surgery. But the doctor told him it could get all mucus-y and gross.
Anyway, I jokingly said that maybe he should just have the eye removed, since it wasn't doing any good. We laughed and made light of the fact that he could wear a pirate patch or get a removable fake eye.
After the conversation, I suddenly remembered a conversation I'd had with a nurse at work. I'd mentioned the fact that one of my doctors had mentioned the possibility of taking me off the pill, an idea I'm not too thrilled with. Her response was..."you don't want children, right? So why don't you just have a hysterectomy and not have to worry about it."
She was serious, not joking. To be fair, she'd had one and was quite happy with having to not have periods or worry about cervical cancer. But the idea was horrifying to me. That someone should suggest that I remove a body part simply because it isn't doing me any good. But this has happened to women so often over the years. To make the comparison even more clear, let's just consider that we don't remove people's appendix just because it doesn't do any good and is a potential problem to them - we wait until it is a problem.
Or in the case of my father's eye...it doesn't do what it was designed to do, and now it is becoming diseased (for lack of a nicer term), and yet it is a joke that we would even consider the removal even when we can put in a replacement that will look much like the original (and therefore not detract from his face).
Such a thing had never been suggested to me before and it just brought home how little we respect a woman's reproductive organs in our society.
Rant over.
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4 comments:
That's taking out, what about putting things into the body, such as implants?
Taking things out of the body for live saving methods is acceptable to me, but I agree, removing them simply for the fact that they are not being used, is a bit crazy.
Happy Hanukkah!
That is totally ludicrous about the hysterectomy! What is wrong with people? You might want to tell your dad that your friend's dad (i.e. mine) just had cataract surgery in both eyes and both were very successful - and my dad is really the world's biggest wimp...basically it just meant 6 weeks of eyedrops after each one and that's it!
I've had the same thing suggested to me twice in the past year. I have endometriosis which leads to some extremely painful periods. I don't plan on having children, so both my doctor and a friend offered it up as a solution. I wasn't offended so much as taken aback by the idea. It had never occurred to me. I turned it down. Not every month is bad, and I can't see ripping out my guts over it, so to speak.
So you're right; they are considered a little too expendable I guess. Must ponder further...
I wish I had known about the festival, I bet I would know some of the songs. I am, after all, of some scottish decent.
Yes I know, the old if you don't use it yank it out. That does not mean that all catholic priest should be castrated does it?!?
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