I was talking to my sister-in-law, who is a nurse in a hospital located near Washington DC. She was telling me that the hospital she works at is considering buying the new designer patient gowns put out by The Spirited Sisters. She is very excited about that, saying that she thinks that getting rid of the old hospital patient gowns that leave one side of the patient in an “exposed” condition and letting them wear stylish and comfortable designer patient gowns will do wonders for the morale of the patients.
And she thinks that improving the morale of the patients is critical to the healing process. (I agree with her, attitude makes a big difference!) Anyway, these designer gowns look much more dignified and I know that if given a choice which type to wear, I’d be choosing the designer gown over the traditional one any day! I asked her if the hospital is going to use them hospital-wide, or simply restrict the use to a few departments, such as oncology. She said she really wasn’t sure, but she would suspect that they would switch over the hospital one department at a time.
I can remember the several times that I have had to stay overnight at the hospital, and how uncomfortable and embarrassing those traditional gowns are. I even hate to wear them at the doctor’s office when I have to go in for a check-up, or have to go get a mammogram! They are, simply put, ugly and uncomfortable.
I went to the website www.spirited-sisters.com to take a look at the gowns for myself. I had not heard of them before, and I was very surprised to find out that they have actually been “out” for several years already. They have been featured on the Gray’s Anatomy television show, and there have been several newspaper and magazine articles written about the gowns. I think that is great!
I hope to be driving to Longfellow’s Greenhouse in Manchester this weekend to buy some flowers. I LOVE going to Longfellow’s - I can spend many hours there going from greenhouse to greenhouse, and filling up wagon after wagon with easy care perennials and bright and cheery annuals for my garden and window boxes. Now that the full moon in May has come and gone, I feel that it is safe for me to get gardening in earnest!
My friend and neighbor Jessie has told me that she is moving to New York. She has got a transfer within her company; a promotion and they are moving her to New York. She is going to be using a New York City real estate company called Prudential Douglas Elliman to help her find her new home. She has decided to try to rent a townhouse near her new office, and the realtor will help her find one. She doesn’t want to commit to buying anything right now; partly because the market is so volatile, but also because she doesn’t know for sure how long her job there will last. She doesn’t want to buy something and then end up moving again a year later and having to try to sell a house.
The world is getting smaller every day it seems. The friends that I grew up with have all scattered around the globe. I am so glad that we have email to keep in touch! I miss them all very much and love to hear from them and find out how they are doing, how their families are, who they are working for (or who is working for them!) and how life is treating them in general.
I do find myself nostalgic from time to time, wishing that we all still lived close together. I miss the great times we had together, the parties we had, the great group dates we went on. Oh dear, I’m depressing myself!
I just ran into an old friend who had moved to California two years ago, and had come back to town for a short visit. I ran into her at the Mei Lam Lau restaurant, and we ended up eating lunch together. I could not believe how her appearance had changed, but I could not put my finger on it exactly. She told me that she had gone to a Beverly Hills cosmetic dental office and had some work done on her smile. She had braces and whitening done, and a couple of teeth pulled, a few older filling replaced. Like I said, she looked terrific! She said that she loved her new dentist, Dr. Maddahi. She said that he was a cosmetic specialist and that she wished that there was one that good around here - she would have had the work done years ago!