Yin and Yang

A note tucked inside a Christmas card I received in today's mail disclosed the recent death of an old friend. Knowing Janet had been fighting an increasingly debilitating disease for the past several years, the news wasn't completely out of the blue, still it caught me off guard and plummeted me into sadness: Another of the good ones gone. Her newspaper obituary was enclosed; she was exactly my age!

Half an hour later, while I was still wallowing in despair over the death of my friend, I received a series of texts from another friend eager to share the exciting news of the birth of her fourth grandchild. How fabulous! A brand new life, let's all celebrate!!! Several pictures of the wrinkly-faced baby nestled in the arms of the glowing new mom followed. That perked me up a bit.

Today it's snowing where I live, so I'll have to miss my final cardiac rehab "graduation" class since there's no way I'm driving 24 miles in a whiteout. But I've got plenty of blueberries, and new research shows that women who eat more than three servings per week of blueberries lower their risk of a heart attack by 32%, so it all works out.

Up and down, always up and down; no wonder I have labile hypertension.* I'm just surprised that everyone doesn't.

 *Sudden and ongoing changes in blood pressure that fluctuate far more than usual.