Warming up with a little Jackson Five.
No comments on The Soft White Sixties
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Rainbow trout, mac and cheese, and delicious vegetables. Thanks, Texas!
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Can’t seem to get enough liquids here…
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What Russell and Justin had for dinner. Gives a new meaning to “Hot Doughnuts Now.”
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We stopped by Andy’s house. To our delight, he has chickens and roosters!
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We almost ran over a turtle in the road. Rose gallantly escorted it to the riverside.
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I’ve always been a proponent of visiting new places, seeing new sights. This past week I was in Iceland for work. A year and a half ago I was in Iceland for vacation. I choose Iceland for vacation because I wanted to go somewhere that was cold and dark and would aid great sleep. I also wanted to see the Northern Lights. To my delightful surprise, I discovered that Iceland has the most comfortable beds of anywhere I’ve slept in the world. To my dismay, I never saw the Northern Lights.
When I learned that the team had chosen Iceland for the team meetup, I booked my ticket. There wasn’t the excitement I feel when traveling somewhere new. There was the excitement of the opportunity to spend several days with the team.
Once I landed, there was something comforting about being in a city I had been in before. Reykjavik is an easy city to know (not such an easy city to spell). I knew the streets, where the main shopping street was, where the cute pond with the ducks were. I knew where the post office was and where to buy stamps. I remembered the grocery store. I remembered the church and the amazing views you could see from the top of the tower. And with all that knowing, there was still much to discover. We ate at new restaurants. We visited new pubs. We stayed in a new neighborhood.
Some of my favorite moments were:
Drinking a polar beer (not bear!) and sharing stories with Krista 
Observing the beautiful graffiti on the sides of buildings 
Approaching the formidable Hallgrímskirkja and watching a group of theater students pretend to sword fight and behead each other in the snow 
Climbing the tower at Hallgrímskirkja and taking in the expansive views of Reykjavik 
Observing quirky sites around Reykjavik, like this sweater covered tree 
Viewing the swans and ducks on the pond by City Hall Enjoying a few hours at the Blue Lagoon before returning to the US, eating Skyr, watching giant snowflakes fall from the sky, and most of all, spending time with colleagues that I respect and admire and don’t get to see nearly often enough.
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Enjoying afternon tea with Rachel and her mom.
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There’s been a lot in the news lately about how the Susan G Komen for the Cure charity has cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. Maybe I’m naive, but I marvel that we allow politics to interfere with funding women’s health initiatives. Spoiler alert – this isn’t a post about abortions.
When I was in college, I started going to Planned Parenthood. I couldn’t get an appointment at our college student health center for months and I knew that annual exams were important. At Planned Parenthood, I was made to feel welcome, the clinicians answered my questions without judgment, and I could afford the services provided.
My first job out of college was as an elementary school teacher in rural North Carolina. My take home pay was less than $1,000/month. For nine months out of the year. Health insurance must have been offered as a benefit, but I remember not being able to figure out how to navigate the system or how to get an appointment. It was easier and more convenient to continue to go to Planned Parenthood for my annual exams. So I did.
One day after school I received a call at the elementary school where I taught. I remember the secretary buzzing me over the intercom, telling me there was a call for me in the office. It was a crisp fall day and the afternoon sun was shining brightly, highlighting the blazing red, yellow, and orange leaves on the trees. I walked down the puce green hallway and picked up the phone which was sitting on a weathered old wooden desk. The call was from a clinician from Planned Parenthood. “Lori, your pap smear has come back abnormal. We need you to come back in for more testing.”
Those are scary words for anyone to hear, but they felt especially frightening to a young twenty-something who had just started her first real job and who was struggling with just about every area of her life. The follow-up tests confirmed that I had cancerous cervical cells.
At that point, I gave up on trying to be independent and called my parents, crying and scared. They went to church with a woman who had recently remarried. Her new husband was a respected oncologist. He scheduled me for surgery and follow-up treatment back in my home town. We all lived happily ever after.
If there were no Planned Parenthood, would I have discovered that I needed treatment? Probably, eventually. Would I have discovered it in time to prevent the cancer from spreading? Maybe. Maybe not.
I’m thankful that Planned Parenthood supports women’s health. I’m thankful they encourage women to get annual exams and engage in preventive healthcare measures. I’m thankful that they provide an affordable service to those women and men who don’t have health insurance. And that’s why I continue to support them.
LoriLoo 