February 24, 2024

By Dr. Plastic Picker

Good morning dear readers!!! I’ve been so busy emailing that I haven’t had the need (because sometimes my emails are super creative!) or the time to blog. But I’m back this morning and super grateful to the blog readership for following along my journey here in written form which is always more authentic, or on Instagram where I’m really a bit too silly!

But in all seriousness, it continues to be an impactful life – filled with patients, family and climate work. I just came home from early morning walking the dogs (we have my brother’s corgi too this weekend) and going to Starbucks with Mr. Plastic Picker. My husband said that I’m his best friend? He’s always called me that and I’ve never accepted the offer. I’m honestly still thinking about it LOL. Of course I’m his wife and he is the love of my life. But best friend? I’m not sure about that one.

I spoke at Protected Roots Integrative Treatment Center https://pritreatmentcenter.com/. How I happened upon that speaking spot was circuitous and a year ago. I had met one of the psychologist at Love Your Wetlands Day a year ago, and we kept in contact via Instagram. And I finally agreed and we found a time for me to physically come. But then I realized that on a Friday and missing clinic was going to be too much for me. Sometimes I tend to try to give too much. But I ended up being able to do a virtual talk for an hour yesterday during Friday lunch. And honestly knowing that they really wanted to hear me talk, and giving me the freedom to craft whatever talk I thought appropriate – it just made the entire day flow. Does that make sense? I got up early on Friday to prepare an almost new talk. I talked about my climate and health journey, but I felt it was this open forum to discuss some new ideas I had been thinking of. My climate and health journey and this meaningful work has led to better parenting and doctoring for myself, and I approach mental health issues for my patients in a more creative way.

So it was mostly new images, but the thought processes and discussions were really good with this group. I spoke from my place as a front-line pediatrician, as someone who has cared for children over their lifetime. It was really meaningful to me, and I ended the discussion with “if I made you smile and I made you think a bit more, than I’m happy.” And honestly they made me think and they made me smile, so it made me so happy yesterday and it’s still spilling over to this morning.

So I’m up and it’s not too busy of a weekend! I need to write a letter of recommendation, write our SDPCA newsletter, organize a new PHAC Climate Actions Campaign Council for Orange County/Riverside, and send a lot of emails today. But it’s a kind of catch up weekend which is the best kind of weekend! Have a sustainable weekend dear green friends. Remember that it’s systems change so don’t stress over the little stuff.