NY-28, Gratitude Day Four

I actually had to count the days since I started my month of gratitude.  In twenty-eight days, we will see the first day of 2015 and the first day of the second year of my personal journey.  I’m counting down 2014 by engaging in the opposite of complaining — expressing gratitude.

Today I’m grateful for everyone whom I have encountered in California in the last two days including the taxi driver whom I am very sure planned to over-charge  me but who cheerfully conceded the point when I told him what I had been advised to pay.  He flashed a lopsided grin and agreed to accept the lower fare.  For a brief moment, an acknowledgment of his essentially dishonest intent crossed between us.  I admired him for the tacit concession.

Every other person whom I encountered here has been overwhelmingly helpful.  I would attribute their attitude to California sunshine but it has been raining steadily until the last hour.  From the clerk at my hotel and the “doordash.com” delivery woman to the prestigious specialist whom I saw in the Infectious Disease Clinic at Stanford, folks here have gone out of their way to be pleasant, forthcoming, and courteous.  The guest services employees at Stanford deserve particular note and I did write comment cards about several of them.

And don’t get me started on how grateful I am to Renee Menuet Kahl, who drove an hour last evening to have dinner with me.  Such effort bespeaks a person of enormous character and goodness.  Her presence and the four hours which we spent together capped an astoundingly enjoyable trip.

As I write, the scene outside my hotel room exudes serenity.  Lush vegetation on the hotel courtyard testifies to several days of uncharacteristic rain.  I see a small table on which I would be sitting to write this, were it not wet from the recently ceased showers.  But I don’t mind.  NPR plays on the radio, and soon, I will finish packing and head to the lobby to await the shuttle.  In my handbag, I’ve stashed several Kashi bars provided by the hotel along with the free light breakfast and Starbucks coffee.  One does not often get to have two days of unbroken positive experiences.  Even if the treatment plan devised here by the ID folks and the neurologist does not help, I will carry the feelings which rise within me for a very long time.  To the extent that positive thinking has power, my health stands a chance of improvement.

Which, after all, was the goal, eh?

Renee Menuet Kahl and me, taken at Celia's in Menlo Park, CA, 03 December 2014.

Renee Menuet Kahl and me, taken at Celia’s in Menlo Park, CA, 03 December 2014.

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