Keeping with the theme of "maturity," mine, or lack of, was put to the challenge this past week.
On Tuesday evening, I received a call from AHS (Alberta Health Services) asking if I would mind doing a survey.
"How long will it take?" I ask.
Expecting an answer of 5 minutes or so, I was a little dismayed to hear from the young lady, "Twenty to thirty minutes."
Sigh. "Okay, let's do it," I said.
Besides a variety of specific health related questions, I was asked how I would rate my overall health on a scale of 1 to 100%. I was feeling terrific at the time and almost said 100%, but thought no one is ever 100%. So, I said 90%.
Another set of questions was related to my stress levels. Again, I wasn't experiencing any issues, so I answered that I really didn't have any stress that was a problem. We all have a certain amount of stress, just to keep us on our toes. But, the issue is more how we handle it and I thought I was doing rather well.
Finally, the last questions were to do with smoking, use of tobacco products, and alcohol consumption. All negative answers. Here I am, this picture of health.
Wednesday morning, I wake up with a nasty headache and back pain so bad I can't even bend over. What happened to my 90% health score?
I drag myself through the day, hoping to get a good night's sleep because the next day we have turkey slaughter and I need to be alert for sorting the dressed birds into orders and cut-ups for roasts.
Ten to five in the afternoon and the phone rings. "Victor, I need to talk to Marilyn!" I hear Martin exclaim with unusual anxiety in his voice.
I'm thinking, "Martin doesn't get stressed out, so this must be serious."
"Marilyn, the turkey slaughter for tomorrow has been cancelled! And they don't know when it'll be rescheduled."
Now, my stress level has just gone up. My mind is racing, "No, I can handle this. Don't panic. What measures do we need to take to contact customers and meat processors for cutting up the turkeys? This changes not a few plans. And we need to call before the meat cutters close at 5:00."
So much for my picture of health and low level of stress.
Wait, the story isn't over, yet.
Thursday, Victor and I are off to the farm for the day and dinner with Martin and Jeannie. Right after dinner, a neighbour called to let us know there's been a water line break in our community and we should bring home drinking water because the system is shut down.
"Oh no. I was planning to make pickles tomorrow and that takes water, fresh water and lots of it. What else do we need to think about? It's no fun to be without water, even though I was raised on a farm without running water. Oh well, we'll manage."
All day Friday, we're without water and to top it off, the county sends out a notice to boil our water when the service is restored. So, we set up a Berkey filter and we're good.
One more thing to add to my stress level. Jonathan, our son who does the videos, calls to say his real estate agent, Trevor Stuart (yes, the Trevor Stuart who climbed Mt. Everest this year), has the "perfect" house for him. Can we look at it Sunday evening?
"Okay, Son. We'll be there."
By midnight Sunday, we'd been through the house and done all the paper work. Jonathan now has his house.
Monday morning, 9:15, James calls. "Turkey slaughter's tomorrow morning."
"Good. Things are back on track with the turkeys. Let's get it done."
Just as this was about be sent out, I received a call to package turkey parts Thursday morning at nine. We were originally scheduled to go in to the meat cutters in the afternoon.
Sometimes I just want to click on Facebook and look at kittens. Forget the real world. Next best thing to maturity?
