Proudly Non-compliant

A few weeks ago, I had a doctor call me a "non-compliant patient." (He wanted to repeat a diagnostic screening that I've had a gazillion times already and find to be a waste of time and not very helpful, so I declined it.) He was trying to label me non-compliant in a somewhat humorous way, in order to lighten the exchange, but the obvious implication was that to be non-compliant is a "bad" thing. I've thought a lot about this exchange since then...

I would hate to think that anyone would ever say about me--either now or when my life is over: "She was always compliant." Phooey on that! I really can't see the point of mindlessly going along to get along. When it comes to my own life and health, I form my own opinions and I set my own goals. If something does not make sense to me, I really don't care how many other people have done the conventional/common/routine thing. I'll chart my own course, thank you very much. When I conceived of a plan to build a wooden raft and live on it in the Kennebec River with my son as a way of having an adventurous summer vacation, and others expressed all kinds of doubts and concerns, I didn't give up the dream. Instead, I doubled-down on the planning. (We had so much fun, we repeated the adventure four additional summers before he went off to college!) When I excitedly told a man I was dating that I was going to build my own house, and he replied with "You can't do that!," I didn't fold and accept his opinion. (I saw it as a huge red flag that that relationship was not going to last.) When others thought it was foolish of me to walk away from a job that was using me up (and I thought was going to be the end of me) at my advanced age :-) and without another job all lined up, I did what I needed to do anyway. (Best decision! I've been so much healthier in all kinds of ways since.) It's that same part of me that is building the JayBee--even though this is not the conventional way of acquiring a new home, even though it is hard work, even though I have to figure out what I'm doing each step of the way. I wouldn't have it any other way. I am quite proudly non-compliant!

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For those who are interested in life on the river...

Here is a photo of me on a walk looking back up my driveway. Can't see anything?

Here; I'll zoom in. George may be too lazy to walk with me, but he is still keeping watch from the driveway.

I picked up a stick to help me get safely down the banking to the river's edge. Once I was down the hillside, I realized the stick had been gnawed off by a beaver. A beaver stick!

An early sign of autumn.

Late summer/fall flowers along the river.

Various late summer and early fall river shots...

This may look like a simple river shot...

Zoomed in, though: See the soaring bald eagle I was watching?

Here's another shot.

And zoomed in.

One more.

Zoomed in; two eagles dancing.

Back from my walk that one day...and George is still on lookout duty.

A rare moment of peace between these two.

George--all done in.