One Step Over the Border

Today I am paying for the fun of yesterday. I'm aching and walking like an old lady. I went to the doctor, and he gave me his regular three minutes. That study that says that doctors interrupt their patients after twenty seconds is entirely true for mine. I feel like he reads my chart and comes in knowing exactly what he is going to do regardless of what I have to say. This illness has left me feeling powerless, and my doctor only exacerbates that feeling. He put me on another new medication at one dosage for two weeks and then a different dosage two weeks later. This means that I paid $55.00 today, and I'll pay that amount again in two weeks. Do doctors even stop to think about the amount of money they are forcing patients to pay for medicines they aren't even sure will work? And he's tapering me off of the prednisone, and I have to keep going even if it gets rough. The same doctor who didn't like me taking vicodin at all, is now telling me to take it to get off of the steroids.

On the way home I was running through my mind all of the things I have to get done and stressing about the appointment, so I threw in a Christian rock CD. As I started to listen and then sing along, it lifted my eyes up from my everyday struggles and life to focus on Jesus. I'm still upset, but I'm feeling more peace in my heart. The review I'm running today is an older one, but the CFBA is blogtouring it this week, so I thought I'd rerun it.

One Step Over the Border by Stephen Bly is a surprising good read! I'm not a fan of westerns or cowboys, so when I first read the description of this book, I was a bit hesitant to read it, but I'm certainly glad I did. This book redeems cowboys from the Brokeback Mountain curse! Hap Bowman has spent nearly his whole life searching for the girl named Juanita who stole his twelve-year-old heart, but all he knows about her is her name and the horsehead shaped birthmark under her ear. Laramie Majors a quiet peace-loving cowboy with a painful family history hooks up with Hap and they work as cowboys , spend time on the rodeo circuit and rescue beautiful women all in the search for the elusive Juanita. Hap and Laramie's exchanges are stellar, and the humorous situations they fall into a hoot. Bly evokes the simplicity of the cowboy lifestyle while gently teaching that life is less about the destination than about the journey. Both men fall in love with strong unconventional women, but Hap learns that the pursuit of his quest may cost him what he values most. This book put a smile on my face every time I picked it up.

If you have time in your prayers, please pray for my aunt Elaine. She's going to the doctor for some results on her cancer today and is upset. She needs some peace in her soul and healing for her body.