kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • Father-Daughter Dance

    One of the hardest things about planning this wedding so far has been choosing the music. I had never really thought about what music I want at my wedding before, and since music has played a big part in my life it’s been difficult to find the perfect songs. My dad has been looking forward to our dance for years, and so I really wanted to choose a special song for him.

    The other day I was working on my computer, and I set my iTunes to shuffle. After hearing “One” by U2 and “Fields of Gold” by Eva Cassidy, a song that I had never heard before played. It was just background music to what I was focused on at the time, but about halfway through I had to stop what I was doing to see what it was called, because I realized that I really, really liked it.

    It was a song called “Easy Silence” by the Dixie Chicks, on their latest album. I played it over again, and then I looked up the words. Here are the first couple verses and the chorus:

    When the calls and conversations
    Accidents and accusations
    Messages and misperceptions
    Paralyze my mind

    Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving
    Burning fumes of gasoline
    And everyone is running
    And I come to find a refuge in the

    Easy silence that you make for me
    It’s okay when there’s nothing more to say to me
    And the peaceful quiet you create for me
    And the way you keep the world at bay for me
    The way you keep the world at bay

    I played it a few more times, thought about it, then took my computer straight downstairs to my dad. When I told him it was by the Dixie Chicks he wasn’t too excited because of their politics and the way they said they were ashamed to be from Texas. (But he loves Bruce Springsteen, so see how far that argument goes?) Anyway, he humored me and we listened to it together. I could tell he liked it, and when the violin came in he said so.

    I guess this isn’t a typical father-daughter dance, but I think it fits us. When we dance to this at my wedding, I will be saying to him, “The world is a crazy place, and through it all you have protected me and provided me with a home, a place of comfort where I can rest and be myself. We aren’t talkers, you and I, but we understand each other. Thank you for bringing me up safely through all the hazards of life so that I can live this very moment, the happiest of my life, and marry the man I love. He will protect me now, but I know that it is because of you that I am here.”

  • Happy Birthday Cleo!

    Today is Cleo’s adoption day, the day that will forever after be known as her birthday. When I got her one year ago, they told me she was about two years old. So today, Cleo turns three!

    Here she is before we named her, when she was known as “Baby.” We knew that would have to go. We chose her because out of all the dogs at the pound, she was the only one that wasn’t barking. Little did I know that one year later, barking would be her major flaw.

    When we first brought her home, she was so scared she wouldn’t eat. When she finally did, I was so excited that I captured the moment. I didn’t care that I had to bring her bowl right out into the living room.

    After awhile we decided she needed a bath. We gave her exactly one before deciding that $20 at the groomer would be money well spent. She never got over her fear of the bathroom after that.

    Cleo’s made a lot of friends over the past year. I’m not the only one who’s getting a new family soon!

    Cleo still misses Molly…

    But she gained a cousin, Bentley:

    Cleo and I have discovered that the dog park is one of our favorite places. It makes me incredibly happy to see her so happy, and I find it so relaxing to sit on a bench and read while she runs (and swims!) her little tail off.

    But my favorite time of all with Cleo is bedtime. We have our little routine – she starts out underneath the covers, licks my legs and feet for awhile, then crawls out and settles at the foot of the bed. I’ll fall asleep, but after awhile I’ll feel her stirring, wanting to climb back underneath the covers. Sometimes she sprawls out next to me and lets me sleep with my arm thrown over her. She never wakes me up in the morning – I’m the one tossing her out of bed. This bedtime routine is ending soon, but that’s OK with me because I’ll have a new bedmate, and I think it’ll be OK with Cleo too because she’ll have her new sisters to play with.

    I love you Cleo, you’ve made the best year of my life even better!

  • Obsession: ChaCha

    I heard about this on NPR last week. ChaCha is kind of like a search engine for your phone. All you do is text a question to CHACHA (242242) and real live people search online for the most accurate answer to your question.

    My first question was: “What flowers are in season in Houston for an October wedding?”

    Answer: “For a fall wedding, pick from these flowers to use: aster, chrysanthemum, dahlia, marigold, static and zinnia.”

    It’s really helpful because of the human element, and I don’t have to wade through a bunch of results to find what I need. It’s free except for your phone plan’s text messaging rate.

    Try it!

  • Not A New Subject Yet

    I was really wanting to talk to you about something other than my job and my wedding today. But, not yet.

    I have been taking care of patients completely on my own for about a week and a half now. One patient I have been the primary nurse for since about a month ago. I have built a strong relationship with her sister (she herself does not speak due to a stroke). Last Friday through Monday I took care of three patients, all of whom I knew and had taken care of before.

    Today, after one day off, I arrived at work and the first thing I noticed was that my patient for the past month wasn’t on the floor anymore. After questioning, I found out that she was transferred to ICU yesterday, having become septic. That was a downer.

    Then I received my assignment for the day and I was given four patients, all brand new who I knew nothing about, and two were due for discharge. You might think that’s a good thing, because they’d be leaving. However, discharges and admissions take a lot of time. There is paperwork, medication reconciliation, fulfilling doctor’s orders, and preparing them to leave to take care of. Both of my patients wanted to leave as soon as possible, and the beginning of the shift is always busy anyway.

    A little bit later, the doctor of a patient I had over the weekend came to the unit and informed us that after he was discharged last night (against medical advice), he went home and shot himself in the head. Wow.

    After I got through all of that, the day got better. And tomorrow, I hope to come to you with something completely new and random!

  • Start of a Day

    My first wedding disaster dream: It was the day of my wedding and I had left the flowers and centerpieces up to my mom to figure out. I arrived to find that the flowers were hot pink and the centerpieces were doll figurines.

    Sorry to anyone who hates reading about other people’s dreams, but I felt it was a duty to myself to chronicle that one.

    I love my day off during the week. Today I plan to have lunch with David at his work, buy my brother a birthday gift, and shop for bridesmaid shoes and other things. I’m also thinking about taking Cleo to the dog park. Thinking about it. Poor girl, I haven’t had as much time for her lately.

    What I have done so far this morning is eat a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, read today’s entry in My Utmost For His Highest, and browse the first 75 pages or so of Real Simple’s September issue. A good start, I think. Up next is a shower, and then I’ll consider whether I have time to make it to the dog park and back in time to get to Chick-fil-a before their breakfast menu closes. David loves the chicken biscuits for lunch and I promised I’d bring them to him.