Day

drove a rental truck from Iowa for four days and made her way out of the blizzard and below 17 degrees temperatures to battle the chilly winds of New York City. Day was helping her son relocate to NY following his recent promotion. What a nice way to start the New Year and congratulations to Day's son!

This is Day's first time in the Big Apple, which she described to be "interesting" and surprisingly with "wonderful people."

Day made the same three new year's resolutions as in past years. She likes to make the same resolutions year after year so she can improve upon them because, per Day, it is the "journey that matters."

As we welcome the new decade, I asked Day if she could rate a few topics in order of relevance or importance, number one having the most priority. She rated them as follows: 1. healthcare, 2. national security, 3. economy, 4. global warming, 5. immigration.

According to Day, healthcare is the biggest threat. She supports a national healthcare program and thinks that it is the only way through which healthcare will become affordable to most Americans. Because "healthcare can not be driven by profits" which is what drives the private sector and the insurance companies. Day has worked in the healthcare and insurance industries and has seen the perils and struggles of families who are not able to afford medical care and believes that healthcare is a pressing problem in the city as much as it is in the rural areas. When it comes to the greater good of this cause, she supports a potential overhaul in the system in spite of the likely tax and premium hikes that will be triggered by the same. But regardless of what the final healthcare bill will offer us, Day thinks that every one needs to take care of their own health. I say Salud to that! Salud means "health" in Spanish and it is used for toasting/cheers and for blessing someone after a sneeze.

Over the past couple of years I noticed that my parents started to focus more on their health by choosing healthier foods, cutting down on their meats and sodium and taking longer walks. Nothing drastic but irksome enough when they would try to foster those new habits upon me. Now, as I see them grow older and frailer, I am rather grateful that they did and continue to make the effort to take better care of their health.
Day will be flying back to Iowa.