Traveling with my toy again; on the train; just to New York.
This is my first trip since I returned from Japan and I really wasn't prepared
for it. I had a very hard time packing last night. I still haven't found a
couple of the things I put away before I sublet my apartment, including the bag for
toiletries I always took with me that has now become useless on airplanes.
I'm sure I didn't toss it, but I have no idea what I did with it.
The last time I was on this train, almost a year ago, I
spent the entire trip contemplating my mortality. This was just before the
pacemaker, and I had no idea what was wrong. I am finding I have a little
trepidation about repeat visits to the places where I was sick. I'm sitting on
the other side of the train, looking left into the train; that seems to make it easier. Not too much deja
vu.
Another place I was sick, but never talked about it, was San
Francisco. I don't think we are going again this year. I'd like to, but I also
have mixed feelings about it.
BTW, the doctor changed one of my meds. He wanted to just
double it, but would have had to get authorization from the insurance company,
so he changed to something comparable—both generic. Would someone please
explain to me why the insurance company needs to bless my medications? I don't
blame the doctor for not wanting to mess with them, but of course, it leaves me
wondering whether the new stuff will do the job as well as the other one. The
good part is that I can easily reach the doctor by cell phone and get a new
perscription filled wherever I happen to be—one of the few blessings of having
the same services all over the country.
Yesterday, as I never spoke to Robin all day, I thought
about how cell phones have changed our leave-taking. Going away was a big deal.
Everyone got together to say goodby, sometimes making a going away party. Then
that phony long distance call on arrival, assuring the folks at home you made
it. Today I can call her from the train, or from New York, or wherever. My cell
phone is actually a New Jersey number: so is hers. We never bothered to change
it. Before I left I forwarded my home phone to my cell—a long distance call
each time. All of these are services are payed for on a monthly basis, whether I
use them or not, so essentially free. What a different world this is. What I
really want now is a satellite internet service, so I could surf the web from
the train. It's out there—I just can't afford it.
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