Come hell or high water

There is one thing I don't like, and that is having national character traits being mistaken for personal shortcomings. Dutch people are for the most part very stoic and don't take compliments very well, nor do they like being told that they are "nice." And this counts especially so for the people in the north of the country where I am from. Whenever I exhibit any of these traits, my therapist acts like they are personal short comings that I ought to deal with and overcome, which makes me feel that I am a failure somehow. It just dawned on me, that to me, and most of the people in the country, this sort of attitude of being stoic, etc. is completely normal and not at all the sign of a maladjusted mind. I must make it a point to mention that to her the next time I see her and to ask her not to put a sick label on every kind of behavior I exhibit. 

Well, that is one thing that was bothering me and I had to get off my chest. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. I wish I knew as good an expression for it in Dutch. 

I saw my GP and based on his examination and my description of the symptoms, he thinks it may be possible that I have an infection in the sinus cavities around my eye. My sight is normal and there are no abnormalities apparent, but this morning I have to have an X-ray made of that area to see if there is an infection. Apparently, the antibiotics course I had last month didn't wipe out the infection I had then. I seldom get sick, but when I do, it does usually take more than one course of antibiotics to get me back on my feet. We will see. 

Tyke found a tennis ball when we went for our afternoon walk yesterday and he very proudly carried it home with him and proceeded to tear half the skin off it. That was the best time he had in a while. For the rest of the day, whenever I asked him, "Where is your best ball?" he came back with that half wrecked one. I do like him so much. He is such good company.