Art and I arrived at the clinic for our massages and I found out my therapist had forgotten about my appointment. So now I am waiting 90 minutes for Art to be done.

I called the therapist and he was remorseful as usual. He asked if I wanted to make another appointment and I said I would think about it. This guy is the best - the best - massage therapist I have ever had. But I can't count on him to remember me every time. This has happened twice before - and I am an owner at one of the clinics he works at!

I decided that anger is not useful, especially directed at him. Quiet is better, and maybe a few weeks of appointments with someone else. This response is fairly new for me. I was raised by a mother who yelled and blamed, and that was my initial impulse for decades. Not so these days, usually.

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Art and I went to the Social Security office today to talk to the lady about his entitlement, which will start the first of May. Also, the paperwork is complete for his pension application which will be mailed to Olympia in the next couple of days. And we got the last signatures for the long term disability policy. There is a LOT of paperwork to fill out and keep track of. I'm pretty good at it, but I wonder about people who aren't. Do they miss out on what they're entitled to? Do they get less? Do they wade for months through bureaucratic swampland until someone takes pity on them? Why the complexity?

I do the paperwork because Art would be one of the bureaucratic waders. He, in turn, does the grocery shopping and the cooking. It all works out.

I could probably make a simple living helping people like us get through the swampland.

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We're planning a trip to Italy with friends for next year, in September or May. Originally it was going to be just a weeklong walk in Tuscany. It's expanding, to maybe an extra week or two in a timeshare, or a home exchange - and maybe to Austria or Switzerland instead of another part of Italy. We'll already be in Europe, and we won't have a pressing need to get right back home. This is so new - the freedom to stay longer. What a treat!