Concerned about people. in A New Beginning

I’m not a worrier. Used to be!!!! But over the years, I have learned that FOR ME, anyway, and by extension “us,” things always turn out fine. They don’t always turn out that way for others, but I never cared so terribly much about others that I’d get emotional about them. I guess “caring” can be done on a mental level or more deeply, on an emotional level, and I stayed on the mental level.
I’m a little more concerned than that right now about my best friend Wendy. She has to have surgery on both her eyes! Apparently she has some kind of cataract that is much faster-growing than the usual. Her husband’s health insurance sucks (with a $6000 deductible), so they’re going to have to pay a lot, for her to get it done. And they already have a lot of medical bills because of his heart condition. She has been going back to college to finish her degree, and only has two classes to go, but I’m hoping she’ll get this surgery she needs first. She needs to see!
Honestly, I don’t know how people ever get out from under huge medical bills. I really, really wish that we had the kind of national health care that Canada and England and a lot of other countries have.
Yesterday we got a statement from our TriCare insurance. That’s our secondary insurance that we get because Joe’s retired military; our primary insurance is Blue Cross through our state jobs. Anyhow, my point is, we do not have to pay ANYTHING for the epidural injections I get every 3-4 months. But the actual cost of one of these injections is almost $2000! Which is a lot for most people. Multiply that times the 4 a year that a patient can get and that’s $8000. We could NEVER afford that if our insurance didn’t cover it. If we only had one insurance, we’d have to pay close to $200, which is better of course, but most of us working people still have months when an extra $200 really stretches things thin. Chronic pain like I have is very common, and I expect there are a lot of people who are just having to make do with tylenol because they can’t afford anything else. That makes me sad. Everyone deserves decent health care as much as we do.
Now The Affordable Care Act is being repealed and a lot of ordinary people like us are scared and worried about how they are going to afford health care now. I feel for them. I would be SCARED if I were in their shoes. :o(
But on to the mundane activities of my life! :o) Because we must feel concern about the people around us, and the things that happen, but we just can’t let ourselves be consumed by it! And I know people who let that happen. And then what good is that?! Joe and I are having a pretty good three-day weekend, Yesterday we started out by taking Guinness to the school athletic complex for a nice walk. They have several acres of woodland trails out there, and a pond, so it makes for a very enjoyable change of scenery (and smells!) for us and for him. Then after we brought Guinness home, Joe and I loaded some ceramic greenware goblets Joe bought into the car and we went up to this ceramics place in Dover, hoping to paint them and get them fired. But although the sign said the place opened at 10, we hung around ‘til almost 11 and they never did open! We had been pretty excited about getting the goblets painted, so that was a bit of a disappointment. But I am going to see if I can find any other ceramics places in our area.....places to get ceramics fired, that is. There are plenty of places to just buy them!
Joe has gone to a book study with his coven today. I’m going out to lunch with my sisters after Carol gets out of church. They are both Christian, but though they both started out going to this church, Sandy didn’t care much for it and stopped going. Apparently the minister preaches too much about actual life situations and not enough from the Bible for her taste. I’m not Christian, but if I were, I think I’d prefer the way this guy does it. I am proud of Carol for continuing to go on her own, and for becoming a part of the church community. She used to be very lonely a lot of the time because since she had to quit her job and move in with her daughter, she had no friends other than family. Now she also goes to the gym at her town’s Parks & Rec four or five mornings a week! Sandy joined it with her, but only goes a few times a week, and again I am proud of Carol for going on her own. She has made friends there too! Sandy isn’t a very social person the way Carol is, and she goes out & does a lot of things on her own without ever saying to us what those things are! :o) But one time I called her and she was walking on a beach! :o) I am proud of her too. BOTH of my sisters have come a long way in the past five years since Sandy moved here from Ohio. I used to feel kinduv responsible for looking out for them, but now I feel like they are setting a good example for ME, if I get to be in my seventies one day like they are!
And I hope to!
Here’s wishing you a beautiful Sunday!