As much as I love decorating things with hearts, Valentine's Day tends to come and go around these parts with little to no acknowledgement. I don't think Andy and I have even exchanged Valentine's Day cards since our first Valentine's Day together. It's not that I don't like the idea of a day set aside for remembering to say your "I love you"s, but this day always slips away into "just another day" despite my best intentions to bake cupcakes or something heart-shaped in honor of the day.
To be honest, Valentine's Day 2013 has to be one of my least romantically inclined V-days of all. For some reason, back in December when I made the appointment, I thought it would be a really good idea to schedule my annual doctor exam for February 14. And let me tell you, there's nothing like a pap smear to really knock the romance right out of you.
My annual exams tend to be pretty dull affairs (as they should be when one is in their twenties!), but it appears that I may have a monstrous case of white lab coat syndrome which has lead to my blood pressure readings creeping up with each passing year. This time, instead of being sent home with a clean slate of health, I was given instructions to keep a blood pressure diary over the next couple weeks to make sure my high blood pressure readings are simply the result of the clinical setting.
I'm not terribly concerned that I actually suffer from hypertension, although considering that after last year's appointment where my blood pressure first indicated hypertension, I went out to lunch with my mother and ordered a kielbasa with sauerkraut on a pretzel roll with a diet Pepsi, obviously, I could be making better choices regarding my blood pressure and cardiac health.
Andy doesn't share my ambivalence to the whole situation and within an hour of my reporting that he'd have to take my blood pressure about three times during the next week, he'd already found a blood pressure cuff to borrow and arranged a meeting with a medical buddy to learn how to use it.
So no, my Valentine's Day wasn't filled with red roses, chocolate, or love songs. Instead, it was filled with caring and care.
It reminds of a couple from our neighborhood who have weathered many a medical emergency together. Last year, when the wife was receiving care for several weeks at a clinic about 6 hours away, the husband drove down to bring her home each weekend, a total of about 24 hours of driving time for him!
"Now that's love," another neighbor said when I told him about this couple's weekend trips home.
Actions speak louder than words and often the least romantic actions come from a place much nearer to a heart than any stereotypical Valentine's Day gesture.
Baby, you can take my blood pressure.
Read more ...
To be honest, Valentine's Day 2013 has to be one of my least romantically inclined V-days of all. For some reason, back in December when I made the appointment, I thought it would be a really good idea to schedule my annual doctor exam for February 14. And let me tell you, there's nothing like a pap smear to really knock the romance right out of you.
My annual exams tend to be pretty dull affairs (as they should be when one is in their twenties!), but it appears that I may have a monstrous case of white lab coat syndrome which has lead to my blood pressure readings creeping up with each passing year. This time, instead of being sent home with a clean slate of health, I was given instructions to keep a blood pressure diary over the next couple weeks to make sure my high blood pressure readings are simply the result of the clinical setting.
Andy doesn't share my ambivalence to the whole situation and within an hour of my reporting that he'd have to take my blood pressure about three times during the next week, he'd already found a blood pressure cuff to borrow and arranged a meeting with a medical buddy to learn how to use it.
So no, my Valentine's Day wasn't filled with red roses, chocolate, or love songs. Instead, it was filled with caring and care.
It reminds of a couple from our neighborhood who have weathered many a medical emergency together. Last year, when the wife was receiving care for several weeks at a clinic about 6 hours away, the husband drove down to bring her home each weekend, a total of about 24 hours of driving time for him!
"Now that's love," another neighbor said when I told him about this couple's weekend trips home.
Actions speak louder than words and often the least romantic actions come from a place much nearer to a heart than any stereotypical Valentine's Day gesture.
Baby, you can take my blood pressure.
