I hear a symphony.

In the medical school lobby yesterday

My day yesterday was filled with little bombs of joy. Here and there. Some expected. Others totally unexpected. But altogether great in more ways than not.

The BHE took the kids to school and then came back home, sat at the kitchen table and chatted with me over coffee. Neither of us had any early "hit-times" (to use his military lingo) so this worked out great. And we talked about everything and nothing and we laughed and connected.

I looked around the clutter surrounding our kitchen table--Isaiah's scraps of paper from his backpack, Zachary's Van's shoe, some kind of Lego man, and some paper in a bag awaiting recycling. I didn't let it bother me. Instead I just enjoyed this man sitting in front of me talking about pollen on cars, the difference between kung fu and karate, and what it means to neighborhoods when a WalMart comes to town.

These are our conversations some mornings and some days I mostly do the talking and other days I mostly do the listening. On this day, it was listening and that was good because I love the BHE and am interested in what he has to say.

Later that morning my calendar reminded me that it was the birthday of one of my favorite Grady doctors--Mike L.  An esteemed senior faculty member with a heart as light and playful as that of a medical student. I make it a point to remember his birthday because I know it means a lot to him. So I called him up and said, "Happy Birthday, Pumpkin!" and he just laughed and laughed. It's funny that he always seems surprised that I remembered. I am learning that people like to be remembered. At least, I do.

"What birthday is this?" I asked.

"Sixty FIVE!" he replied with major emphasis on that "FIVE."

Now, of course, I felt bad about that because I am a birthday rememberer and should have noted that this would be a big year for him. Sixty five? Damn. So I gave him more effusive well-wishes and then sat there after hanging up thinking of something to do for him at the last minute.

Then I did this: I wrote a simple email to the members of our Grady division that said, "My life would never be the same if Mike L. weren't in it because if he weren't in it. . ."   I asked them all to finish that sentence and reply to all.

Next came an onslaught of over fifty one-line messages filling up his and our inboxes like a bouquet of flowers. All with funny, kind, witty, sweet words affirming why this person has been so special to us. And it made him happy because he told me so. But the secret is that it made me even happier to read fifty nice things from fifty nice people about one nice person. Yeah, people like to be remembered.

So that part of my day was really good.

I walked into the medical school to teach Small Group Gamma (aka "The Gammites") and had arrived about thirty minutes early. In I walked and immediately heard . . . . .music? Not just any music. Classical music. Swirling all around the building. Turns out there was a quartet playing in the lobby. An exquisite string quartet playing spectacular music just because.

So I sat down and listened and savored it all. And no, I am no big connoisseur of classical music but my mental iPod is always looking for new tracks and I think I may have gotten some. And. Mike L. loves classical music and the symphony so I felt it necessary to sit down and enjoy it just for him. I mean, it was his birthday and all. So I snapped these pictures and told him in a text message that I wished he were here because he would have loved it. And he agreed that he would have definitely loved it but that where he was at that moment on his 65th birthday was just as good if not better.

So that part of my day was really good, too.

Before going to teach the Gammites I stopped to chat with Mo M., who happens to be one of my favorite med students. She is mature and wise and positive so I always like seeing her. And this time I only saw her for a few moments, but that part of my day was good, too.

The Gammites were great as always. They taught me new things and made me laugh. Today they were doing the teaching on pre-assigned material and I had charged them to push to be innovative and interactive. This session blew my socks off. One student made an absolutely L.O.L. video about the affects of cocaine on the heart. L.O.L. but still educational. Another had us shoot baskets into the garbage can after answering questions about post-infarction pericarditis.

And I have to say that this part of my day was really good, too.

I had a few moments to kill after that session so jumped on line to catch up with emails, blogs and such. That's when I found out the good news that my blog-friend Sister Moon had just welcomed her second grand baby. A super juicy 9 pound 2 ouncer named Gibson. That made my day even better because I read her blog daily and was very much anticipating this delivery right along with many other people. It also made me smile to hear that he was 9 pounds and 2 ounces since my Isaiah was exactly the same weight. That said, I give much props to Ms. Moon's daughter, Lily, who (unlike me) pushed all 9 pounds and 2 ounces of that baby boy out sans epidural. Oooo weee.

Next I had a lovely chat with another favorite medical student--Jenna T. after our teaching session. She is  a fourth year student who just matched in Internal Medicine in Seattle--and who I've known and advised for some time now. We  walked and talked and laughed and even almost cried a few times. And that part was good. Very good.

Later that evening, the BHE held down the fort while I went to dinner with my Grady doctor boy-besties Jason S. and David M. Both are ridiculously attractive but weren't the least bit offended when I said, "You guys are like two outstanding accessories. I'm the best dressed girl in the room!"  And they just laughed because that's what you can say to your boy-besties even if it's totally sexist. Ha.

So I heard all about Jason S. presenting at a medical conference in Malaysia and David M. taking a trip to Egypt which was amazing. And they heard all about Isaiah making the winning soccer goal on Sunday which they seemed to be as enamored by as I was when hearing about exotic travels. And this was really good, too, because this is what friends do.

And today I am sitting in Jury Duty typing this post. Not exactly delighted to be here but quite delighted to see that they have free wi-fi so even that is good. Yes, it is.

You already know. I try to pay attention to what is good in my life. I don't ignore what is not so good but I do try hard to let the good overpower and drown out what is not good. This is my decision. At least today it is. And yesterday it was, too.

So yeah. Yesterday, I had a day that was filled with listening and laughing and loving. I had a day that unexpectedly took me to the symphony. And that day was good.  It was very, very good.

***
Happy Jury Duty Day.

Now playing on my mental iPod. . . . Ms. Ross singing the song that I can't get out of my head.