Insight

So I'm not sure that I agree with Cody and hammer about the revelance of television or blogs as a reflection of our cultural attitudes, but perhaps I would agree that our cultural attitudes are somewhat at odds with the realities of most of our lives.

But I have some insight into my confusion. I started reading Stephen Mitchel's Can Love Last: the fate of romance over time, again. He has a chapter on aggression and love that is really insightful. It's too early for me to frame my thoughts on this, though.

S called last night. It was really good to hear his voice after the day that I'd had. He made me laugh, then told me how good it was to hear my laughter. He's enjoying his workshop and has the day off today to run errands and do other fun stuff.

My day yesterday was marked with death. I spoke to one patient about the unexpected death of his wife over the weekend, then I had to track down another patient who didn't show up for treatment. He had died in his apartment sometime since last Saturday. Sometimes, I can roll with death. I watch people slowly decline in this job (the dialysis work) and sometimes it is even a relief to know that the patient is at the end of their suffering. But the ones you don't expect, the ones that are walking around doing their normal things the last time you saw them, and then are just gone: these are the ones that tire me out and make me want to hug all my loved ones all at once.

Today, I hope, will be a lighter day.