Stepping Out

Is it a good sign when a doctor is scared to enter the examining room?

Renee ventured out on her own yesterday. She had an appointment for more blood work at the family practitioner’s office. After taking off most of December from work, I had to get back at it. Renee was left to fend for herself, this meant driving. Uh oh! We all know what happened with the motorized shopping carts. (See previous post)

I had the wagon since I was on carpool duty that morning, so Renee was left with Old Paint. That’s my little red 1990 Toyota short-bed. It’s seldom Renee’s pick for transportation. With its cloth seats, crank windows and lack of air conditioning, it’s a far cry from the leather clad Volvo. It’s not up to the royal standards of our queen, but with the driving display she put on the other day it was better that Renee was in the trusty old truck.

And everyone loves Old Paint. That is almost everyone, Renee. The neighborhood kids love to play on her and the neighbors love borrow her. It’s a local landmark perched at the edge of the driveway. Renee doesn’t hate her, she just doesn’t love her like the rest of us, jealous maybe?

A legend such as this deserves a song. Here’s an excerpt from ‘Old Paint (Seeing this Country)’ by Bob Masterson
Old Paint is my ride
A little pick-up with pride
She ain’t flashy but she’s sure got some class
And she’s never been cruel
To this hard driving fool
And only once has she run out of gas.

Renee made it to the doctor’s office without incident. The doctor quickly peeked in to the examining room and slowly opened the door. She said she always gets a little frightened when Renee shows up because it usually results in some major medical convention being convened to figure out what’s going on. This day though there was no drama, Renee had a good check-up – APPLAUSE signs lights up.

The doctor was really happy that Renee is no longer gray. Apparently this is not a good color for a human complexion. Too bad, we were working on a contract with Cover Girl for a whole line of Renee Gray. Dang! Another Ralph and Norton get rich scheme goes down the tubes. Homina, homina, homina….

So for a change, we got good news from a doctor. Just for kicks the doc took Renee off of a couple of prescriptions. If this keeps up we may get our kitchen counter back. As a bonus, Renee’s incision has finally closed up. No more ooze letting loose.

Forget 2008, and be not afraid, we’ve got a whole new year to work with.