Top Ten: Fuzzy pants and Ugg boots.

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Today was great. Just great. Here are my top ten moments from it. Nothing too fancy.


#10 - Urban Outfitters.

Spent ten minutes snuggling with Isaiah this morning which put me behind the eight ball for car pool lane drop off.  Had promised Harry I'd take the kids today so ended up jumping into the car wearing my fuzzy Paul Frank pajama pants and Ugg boots--the combination of which Harry describes as a guarantee to not be bothered in ANY WAY by your husband. He also calls the combination "grounds for divorce" but I digress.

Anyways.

Yes. I sure did roll out in that very outfit which wasn't a big deal since it was the car pool lane. Well the funny part came when I realized I'd kiddie-locked the door on Zachary's side. This wouldn't have been an issue if the 5th grade carpool patrol kids had still been out there to open the doors, but since I was running behind, I just missed them by like ten seconds.

So to answer your question, yes. Yes, I had to get out of the car in my pink fleece monkey pajama pants, Ugg ankle booties and college sweatshirt complete with a hoodie on my head in case someone saw me. I pretty much looked exactly like a sociopath. That or some kind of jilted woman coming to get even with someone. Um. . .yeah.

Turns out I was wrong about all the patrols being gone. The one kid who was out there retrieving an orange cone stopped to look at me with this mixture of fear and disgust. Poor kid. (Fortunately, my kids aren't old enough yet to know that they should have been extremely embarrassed.)

See? This is why my next car WILL be a mini-van with automatic doors. (But y'all know that story already.)

#9 - Out-of-body experience.

When I got back from my fuzzy pink pants adventure, I hustle-bustled next to Harry in the bathroom getting ready. There's this thing he does where he talks about me like I'm not there--but in a complimentary way.  It's always out of left field and is always after some random act of service like buying him some more deodorant when he ran out or I picking up both Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples at the store. So somewhere between brushing his teeth and spitting out the toothpaste he says:

"Man, I love my wife. I might not be a perfect dude but my wife? Man, she loves me for me."

I just look over at him with my own toothpaste-filled mouth foamy-smiling as he goes on.

"My wife holds me down, man. She gets me. Nobody gets me like my wife, man. We're gonna be ride or die . . . . no matter what."  ("Ride or die" = one of Harry's favorite terms for "forever loyal.")

Not sure what prompts this, but I like it.  I'm thinking this is what happens when a not-so-mushy-ass-kicking-Army-Ranger dude feels a little sentimental. I think.

Dad, it's okay. Tell me your feelings.

#8 - If my friends could see me know.

I saw Stephanie the med school cafe barista-lady today. She was beaming, y'all! She said, "All the students kept telling me I made it onto your blog and I was famous!"  Which really made me feel awesome because I'm consistently touched every single time I learn that someone is reading this thing.

Anyways.

Like usual, we start chatting and we get back on the story about her relationship with Dr. Hurst.  She said to me, "When he died, somebody came up here and said, 'Hey, Stephanie, you know your boy passed.' And I was like, 'Who?' And they was like, 'Dr. Hurst!' and you know what, Dr. Manning? I just dropped my head and cried right then and there."

"You did?" I asked. Even though I knew the story of them bonding, I was still a bit surprised that she'd cry at the news.  "Was there something in particular that pushed you to tears?"

"Yeah," she answered slowly. Her face grew quiet and serious. "You know. . . .that man. . .he just took a special interest in me. Like he said he don't know why but he just feel like I'm special. He would come up here every day and sit down right over there and have breakfast with me. He even told my supervisor and they used to let me go over there to sit with Dr. Hurst."

"Wow."  This was amazing.

"That's when I was real big, you know? Like way over 300 pounds. Then Dr. Hurst lost his wife and he stopped getting around as well. Do you know he never saw me after I lose all that weight? That's why I was crying when I heard. I knew he woulda been so proud of me."

I wanted to cry, too. "I know he would have been proud because I'm proud of you."

"He said, 'I know you can lose that weight. I just know it.' And he was right."

"Wow."

"Yeah, man. He was a good man."

"Hey, Stephanie?"

"Yes, Dr. Manning?"

"Would you be okay with me writing about this, too?"

"Sure, you go right on ahead."

Thought of that for the rest of the morning.

#7 - Any Questions.  



"Good afternoon, sir!"

"Look here, Dr. Manning, let me ask you a question."

"Yes sir?"

"Why them folks think that man Murray would want to take Michael Jackson out? That man got a hunned-fiddy thousand dollars from Mike every month!"

"Wait, that's your question?"

"Naw! This my question: What if they gave you a hunned-fiddy thousand bucks a month to take care of me in this hospital. Yo' ass wouldn't never discharge me, now would you?"

"Uuuhhhh. . . ."

"HELL naw you wouldn't!"

"Any other questions for me?"

"Nope, tha's it."

#6  - The Honeymooner.

Went to the resident's teaching conference and watched my friend and fellow Grady doctor Neil W. teaching. He was funny and smart and insightful and memorable. This is why he is my faculty mentor. And my friend.

Afterward, we chatted outside and I told him how much I enjoyed the session.  Then I confessed that I secretly hoped it would rain so that I could relax on my couch instead of schlep Zachary to soccer practice after work. That prompted him to start reenacting this:



If you know Neil, you know how funny this was.

#5  - Almost famous.

I walked into the emergency department and a nurse I'd never met before told me she reads my blog faithfully.

"Faithfully?"  I asked her.

"OMG, faithfully!" she replied.

OMG.

#4 - Team spirit.

I rounded with my team in the afternoon and had the best time ever. Everybody taught everyone something. It was awesome.

Mina, the third year medical student on my team, has such enthusiasm that seeing her immediately makes me smile.  She also is one of the only people I've encountered recently who can wear three-inch heels on the wards like me--and still take the stairs like a champ.

Jason is the PA student on my team and my heart leaped a little when I saw him grow in confidence right before my eyes. I was so proud of him.

Kirtesh is one of my interns and for whatever reason this week we have been fist bumping a lot.  He's had some complicated patients and has handled them with aplomb. I can tell that he is proud of himself and that's good because he should be.

Wendy is my other intern and I assure you that if you cracked her heart open, gold would ooze right out. The going joke this week has been how Wendy has this tender thing about her that makes patients cry on the spot. She looks over at them all doe-eyed and out of no where the waterworks start. No matter what is going on.  Like today she asked somebody if they needed a stool softener and the broke down and cried. (Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but for reals she does make people cry for no reason.)

Sandeep is my senior resident this month. I love working with him because he is a medicine nerd like me. He loves patient care and even more than that seems to love people.  He knows the names of nearly every nurse, operator, clerk, cafeteria lady, transport person, and environmental services worker in Grady Hospital.  With a big ol' smile, he greets them all and it's genuine and kind and wonderful.  I am impressed by the what he knows and how he cares for his patients. I am even more impressed by the name thing, though.

# 3 - Who's on first?

One of the clerks was tired of people putting random locks on unassigned lockers. She was ready to get the locks cut off -- but not before offering a fair warning:

Don't say she didn't warn y'all.

#2 - Oh DARN. Rain.

On my way to get the kids from Grady. . . .

Drip. Drip Drop. Dribble Drop Dribble Drop Drop Drop!  I kid you not--I rolled down my window, stuck my hand outside and yelled in my best Ralph Kramden:

"Whooooaaaa! It certainly looks like rain tonight!!!"

Rain = No soccer practice = pink fleece fuzzy pants and Ugg ankle booties! Waaahhooooooo!

#1 - Relaxation technique.

Came home with the kids, put on my favorite rainboots (if only for three minutes to walk to the mailbox), stood on my porch in my rainboots watching cars go by. . . thought about my friend Kris R. wearing her happy rain boots this week in Uganda and smiled because in that moment I felt very connected to her even though we are a whole world apart from each other. . . .

Hunter boots in Atlanta

Kris and Bryn(and Hunter boots)  in Uganda

. . .came back inside and listened to the kids squeal with delight when I lifted the school-week television and electronics moratorium,  made a homemade pizza for dinner that the kids inhaled, allowed them (yes) PopTarts for dessert, sent them to bed after a lit-tle too much television, spoke to Sandeep one more time by phone about our patients, and finally. . . . got cozy on the couch while reading the Hunger Games trilogy on my Nook e-reader. All while wearing my pink fuzzy monkey pants and my Ugg booties.

Oh and ladies?  It's true about the fuzzy pants and Ugg boots. No one bothered me for the rest of the night.

***
Happy Friday.