It must be time for a column of little pieces of this n’ that. The pieces don’t seem to come together today to make a whole. The puzzle in my brain continues churning out meandering thoughts.

My app on my phone used to track my eating progress rejected me. It sent me a message: Apparently you have been ignoring our reminders so we are not going to remind you anymore. It quit. I have never been rejected by an app before.

I love parades, but I didn’t understand why the trucks and tractors and cars that now make up most of the parades can’t decorate and put on a little glitz and glam for the viewers. Kids love the candy. Adults like floats and decoration. Then I remembered; those who are now part of the parade and planning the parades are too young to remember what floats used to look like. They don’t know that businesses used to decorate cars and trucks and tractors with streamers to make the viewing more attractive or build an entire float.

The good thing about cat-sitting your grandcats is that you can spoil them and do things with them their people parents won’t let them do, and they won’t tell on you. Real grandchildren will.

It’s time for doctors to take over and tell the insurance companies what to do. I have an acquaintance with a brain injury that needs rehab after a very bad accident to learn to walk and talk and fit in life again. His insurance company is denying the rehab. They said he isn’t sick enough. It makes me wonder how many people living in our society could get their life back if insurance companies allowed rehab. It seems to me the long-term cost of someone not being able to work and be a functioning human being would be greater than the cost of rehab. And to me getting someone help is the right thing to do. It has to be about humanity and compassion and not money. Yes, the decision should be left to the doctors caring for that patient and not some unknown person in an office who is more concerned about numbers than patient care.

As long as we are on the medical subject; I just got off the phone with a medical billing company that has been chosen by one of the large medical facilities to handle their billing. My bill shows no actual payments on the bill, although it shows my bill going down, it does not show the actual payments. In talking to the company they couldn’t tell me what the bill was at the beginning when it was transferred to them, and the statement came out before a payment was made this month. They assured me that this month’s payment was on the bill, although it didn’t come out of my account until two days after the bill was sent. I called the former company that was handling the bill and they could tell me beginning and ending information until the bill was transferred to the new company months ago. I might also mention this is a bill I have been paying on for four years since my illness. Because of a high deductible and co-pays the bill continues on almost like a house payment. I’ve never had a company that doesn’t document your payments on your bills. Maybe they hoped I’d keep paying it forever.

On a happier note, our community held Kernel Day and it was a success. Thank you to all the people who work hard to make things happen so we can celebrate our heritage. The community of Wells has many positive perks and we must thank the City Council and the citizens of Wells for them. It is not many small communities that have a beautiful golf course, a swimming pool and a theater with the popular movies that brings people from out of town to our small town. We also have two parks, a new school and a Catholic school, many churches and let’s not forget the library and the Depot Museum. Unique shops pepper main street such as  The Humble Heart, Second Chances and The Clothes Closet, to name a few. If we are hungry we visit The Wildcat, Jakes, Dairy Queen or Subway. Our community has much to offer its residents and visitors and I only named a few of the amenities. Of course we must mention the police department, the volunteer fire department and the ambulance volunteers. They all work to make this a safe community to live in. Visit our community and discover for yourself our nooks and crannies and meet our friendly store owners.

There is such a thing still as Minnesota Nice. On the streets of Northfield I met two women from Utah who were traveling the country on their own, checking out places that sound interesting. They were traveling from coast to coast. I think the reason the conversation happened was because they were not from a big city and neither was I, so it wasn’t hard to strike up a conversation with a stranger. We took a few minutes to learn about each other’s lives, although I thought theirs was much more interesting than mine, because they are traveling coast to coast,  not on the freeways, but on the backroads so they get the real feel of the people along their journey. They told me Minnesota Nice still exists and that made me feel better, because if we lose Minnesota Nice what will be left? It would be a sad day.

If you take the time you can find friends no matter where you are.

I checked my brain and after spewing all those, this n’ that’s, it is centered enough to concentrate on that and not this. Have a great day and look for the, this n’ that’s in your life. The “this” may balance out the “that’s” and then you may feel more peaceful to tackle the day.

“Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary.” — Ray Knight

I think this column can count as the absolutely nothing that was absolutely necessary so I can concentrate the absolutely need to do list.

 

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com. Her Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/julie.