The bluest skies you'll see are in...

The sun is finally shining in Seattle, but I don't kiss and make-up that easily. The locals are calling off from work, wearing shorts, tank-tops, flip-flops. In a word they are delusional. It is still freezing...maybe it will be 50 degrees today. I know, enough already with bashing the weather here...but seriously, I've grown accustomed to the warmth. And if it weren't the weather, something else would be bugging me. It is all really just a distraction and a way for me to not focus on the ordeal that I've been through and the life I've left behind in Florida.

Sad lesbian folk music plays at this local Starbucks...heads nodding by the newspaper reading patrons. Musically, I have changed. Seattle has stayed the same.

Today it is more of the same of this and that. I've felt uninspired to write and push myself to keep writing anyway with no particular goal in sight. Anne says that it is natural to feel this way, especially considering what I've been through. She would know, having had her heart extracted and scraped and all of that.

Her cardiologist canceled her follow-up appointment yesterday saying he was stuck in Chicago and she was to reschedule. She called the office and raised a lot of hell...something she's very good at these days. She has energy now to give people hell and release her anger and it can all be blamed on the Prednisone. At least that's what we're saying. Stay off that drug kids. This one is a mind-fucker...not just for you but for those around you!

So the cardiologist's physician's assistant sees Anne and me yesterday and the surgeon has described Anne's heart condition as and I will quote him, 'The worst case I have ever seen in 20 years of practice.' After her surgery, the UW Medical School brought through 2nd year students to see her...not residents, which is normal, but 2nd year students because her case was so extreme The surgeon had to scrape layers and layers of calcification build-up on her arteries that had turned into bone for over 4 hours. So that means she was on the heart-and-lung machine much longer than anticipated.

It is a miracle she is alive and she is full of anger at her former employer who failed to follow-through with their benefits package thus she was without insurance (even though she was told she had it through Pagliachi...)...but now Anne has the right venue to direct her anger. I can totally relate to when an employer lies to you and does the wrong thing...the betrayal one feels. I've had my anger at Whole Foods Market and still struggle to move past it...especially when I know that such a shitty boss is still in place, still intimidating team members and the regional offices not listening to the complaints or taking serious action.

Why would Whole Foods continue to allow a store manager to exist who's leadership style is intimidation and retaliation? I really don't understand the philosophy behind that...and team members continue to email me about what is going on... I tell them to report the behavior and they feel intimidated because they've seen what retaliation can do to them from other team members. It makes me feel so helpless and sad for them...and now I can't do anything about it. How is it that a company values an abusive alcoholic mediocre manager over the voices of loyal, honest, hard-working, dedicated team members?

Meanwhile, my medical bills pile up. Maybe I can borrow some of this anger that Anne has and use it for my own good but right now just being here is all I can do...stay in this moment. My needs are fine right at this second....working laptop, coffee shop, sun is shining, trees blooming.

Does anyone know a good employment attorney? For Anne, of course...

So much love,
All the way from over here...
Linda