Gentle as a Dove

...and wise as a serpent. I'm direct and honest. My husband is sensitive and easily wounded. This morning I was thinking that one of us must change to survive this marriage so I thought about the verse that says, "...gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent."

My research tells me that doves have many enemies and build their nests in such a way that they appear to be stupid. The one redeeming quality is that they seem to be very good parents and share the burden equally. I remember watching the doves that were nesting on our portico and when they were both there for shift change, they were very patient; the dove that recently arrived would wait for some time before the bird on the nest would get up and leave. Maybe they were bringing each other up to speed about the cats in the neighborhood, or the status of their nestlings.

So my conclusion is that doves are patient and kind to their family. I realize that I'm ascribing human characteristics to the doves, but hey, I'm trying to apply something here.

Anyway, a serpent seems to be influenced by many things: temperature, solar radiation, wind, humidity, time of day, and season. If the moon is out at night, a snake moves around less-assuming that snakes know that their prey can see them. They have no ears and pick up vibrations with the tactile receptors on their skin. Gathering data with it's senses it modifies it's behavior accordingly. When a predator is around, it will even change it's movements to avoid being a meal.

Snakes are little scientists gathering data before they do anything and modifying their behavior to suit the situation. Have you noticed that these much maligned characters appear to always be smiling?

I guess I am to be patient and kind to my family- yet smart enough to take the 'temperature' of the environment I'm in before I do anything....oh..yes, and smile and carry a rattle.

What do you think?

Wallets

I noticed my 18-year-old-son's wallet laying next to his keys on the little built-in desk in the kitchen. I was surprised by my feelings...a curious rush. I picked it up and looked at his drivers license. Memories of wallets filled my mind; my dad's wallet, my ex husband's and my husband's wallet. The smell of the leather, the curious contents. Wallets are so masculine to me. Not the ones fresh from the box, but the ones with the patina of back pocket time.

I still don't understand, and can't label my feelings, but I know that my son's wallet indicated to me that my youngest baby boy is now a man. Wallets make me feel safe..it must be a daddy thing.

http://www.eddequincey.com/wallets/gallery.asp

Maybe You Don't Need Chemo

Nausea, infections, and mental confusion called "chemo brain" are the price that 100,000 breast cancer patients are willing to pay each year to get well. But many women now may sidestep chemotherapy and these noxious side effects. Currently, people with estrogen-sensitive tumors that haven't spread to lymph nodes routinely undergo chemo to prevent a recurrence. However, an article published online last week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that women who got a low score on the Oncotype DX test, which looks at 21 markers of tumor growth, lived long lives even without chemo. Their probability of living for at least 10 years without a recurrence was 96.8 percent.

"Thousands of women are receiving toxic therapies, potentially unnecessarily. So this is very exciting to us," says Jo Anne Zujewski, head of breast cancer therapy evaluation at the National Cancer Institute. Patients can ask their doctors to send samples of the tumor to the test maker (www.oncotypedx.com). The cost: about $3,500, which is covered by Medicare and some private insurance. -Josh Fischman
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060605/5healthwatch.lede.htm

This is not new news, but at least it looks as if now, it's "acceptable" news.