I knew yesterday would be busy. I had two doctor’s appointments…one with my regular health care provider and the other with the endocrinologist. It’s been six months since I had the second parathyroid surgery and I’m actually feeling much better. My calcium is down to a level I haven’t seen in years, my Vitamin D is in the normal range, yet my parathyroid hormone is still somewhat elevated. The biggest relief is the deep bone pain is gone. That’s because my body isn’t trying to eat the calcium in my bones. Not as bad as it was, anyway. I got a relatively clean bill of health with followup appointments scheduled.

When I was finally finished with the appointments, I called up my sweetheart to see if he’d like to meet me for dinner. We went to the only restaurant in town that I’ve deemed to serve passable…if not truly authentic…Mexican food. We haven’t eaten there since before the pandemic began, so I was really looking forward to it. We even decided to eat indoors. We wore our masks in and were seated away from others in a booth that offered even more protection.

I was a little disappointed at the rushed approach by our server. She spoke little English, and from the little bit of Spanish I was able to conjure up, apparently didn’t speak that either. We did ok and ordered our food, but she didn’t give us enough time to peruse the menu and I didn’t feel like trying to make her understand we preferred not to be rushed. The chips and salsa were great. The guacamole was wet and bland. The sweet tea had that velvety smooth quality that takes me back to my Aunt Dixie’s table.

Mr. FixIt ordered the Seafood Chimichanga. It was served with a generous portion of white rice with what looked like Veg-All in it. There was also a very small amount of salad on the plate. He was almost through his dish before he found a lone shrimp. I ordered the Taco Salad. The tortilla bowl was about half the size of what you used to get and the meat had no seasoning. I was so disappointed.

“Shrinkflation” is occurring everywhere now, it seems. We stopped at Sam’s yesterday for a soda and they’ve started using smaller cups for the same price. Everyone is out to protect their bottom line. What this shows me is how incredibly spoiled we have become in this country. The sense of entitlement stuns me. 

We have lived through several seminal events in the last sixty-nine years. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, wars, recessions, 9/11…all events that led to “market corrections”. I told Mr. FixIt from the very beginning…we are going to feel the effects of the pandemic for a long, long time. We are only just beginning to see some of what’s to come.

We are a resilient people when we set our minds to it. Before spending money on outrageous vacations or cars or whatever, it would behoove us to use a lot more discretion in our finances. This is a turning point in time. I believe we can find ourselves again and bring truth and kindness and love into our lives. Anger is the demon’s seed.

I will always believe this.

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“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

James 1:19-20 ESV