The Small Joys of a Check-Up

I got in the car and felt a little giddy.  I was dressed.  I was out of the house.  I was alone.  I didn't have spit-up all over my shirt, at least as far as I could tell, and anyway, who cared? 

I don't have to stop and give the whole spiel about how awesome my kids are, do I?  Or that I absolutely cherish them and the blessing it is that I can be home to rear them just as we choose?  Or that I would never beg for something called "Me Time" that's become popular in our culture?  My whole life is mine and consists of the consequences of my own choices and cannot be compartmentalized.  But I also don't have to explain to any of you moms out there how great it is to do something else for a bit, whatever it might be.  However, I wasn't off to a spa day or anything fancy like that.

I had a doctor's appointment.  Not one for the kids, though, which is just crazy, but one of my own.  So I had to get a sitter for the kids, and our motherly, generous, and kind next-door neighbor agreed to come by and hang out with them while I was gone.  Walking out the door and hearing the mental noise clear, and continue to clear, slowly, until I could hear my own thoughts in tidy succession was as exhilarating as the frosty blast of air that froze my eyebrows and made me momentarily breathless.

My younger self would've seen a doctor's visit as necessary drudgery, but not this lady.  I left a little early.  I went by the gas station and got a cup of coffee, because I just hadn't gotten to my coffee pot this morning.  (I slept as late as I possibly could, because my adorable daughter wakes us constantly in the night when she's teething.)  So I got the coffee, then I drove just under the speed limit to get to the office.  I checked in, wandered around the waiting room, and enjoyed the view of the little pond outside the large picture window before settling down with a magazine. 

Once in the examination room, the nurse took my vitals, and I gave a relaxed mental shrug when I saw my current weight.  "Who cares.  I'm healthy," I told myself and sort of laughed at how age and children have matured my perspective and given me leave to breathe a bit.  After the nurse left, I sat alone and hoped the doctor would be late, or better, would forget about me and leave me sitting there in total quiet, sipping my coffee and looking around.  Maybe they'd go through their day somehow avoiding that room altogether, then at closing time, I could mosey out, smile my good-byes, and head home, leaving them with their confusion.

Well, the doctor came faster than she ever has.  I'd barely drunk any more coffee, and there she was.  But still, I love her, and it was a pleasure to answer her questions:  "Any unusual health things you want to discuss?  Do you still not smoke?  Do you still exercise?  How are things going?"  It was much more relaxing than the usual questions fired my way:  "Is poop from your food, and pee from your juice?  Would it hurt Adelaide if she falls off the bed, even though it doesn't hurt me?  Can I wear my underwear outside my pants?  [bursting into the bathroom] What are you doing?"  And so on.

Then, again in record time, the check-up was over.  I was ready to converse some more about my heart or anything, but I looked fit, and my doctor had other people to see. 

So I checked out, but I didn't leave.  Oh no.  I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, especially after two kids, but I'm no idiot.  I went back to the waiting room and sat down with Magazine and my coffee. It was all backwards, and I'm sure I got a few looks, but hey, I had given an estimated timeframe to our sweet neighbor, and I still had some sand in that hourglass.  Who of us would let such an opportunity go to waste?

Sitting in the quiet, sipping my coffee uninterrupted, and then just tossing Magazine back in the pile to still my mind and have a leisurely chat with God...It ended up being quite refreshing.  And much cheaper than a spa day.*


*If you are my husband reading this, please know that I am not making light of spa days and would much prefer it over a doctor's office visit if presented with a choice between the two.  FYI.