Perhaps I should explain that sign on my desk. It reads Jean “Don't Dick me Around” Cozier
Soon after I hired Torrie Flink as a consultant at Awakenings, she, Laura and I had lots of things to name and rename. We got a little punchy one day and gave each other tag lines. Mine was “Don’t Dick Me Around.” I can’t remember Laura’s right now. Torrie’s was “Shut Up and Give Me Your Money.” A few days later, Laura surprised us with nameplates for our desks incorporating those tag lines.
And Director of Dragon Communications? That came from another gigglefest one morning when I came in and told them about my latest dream. I had dreamed that Advocate Charitable Foundation, an organization I had worked with in the post, created a nationwide Center for Dragon Communications and asked me to head it up. In my dream, Torrie told Laura, “Well, say good-bye to Jean.” The two of them laughed themselves sick at that one. I just wished it were true. I was more than ready to retire from Awakenings by then!
I’ve ALWAYS loved dragons. In books, movies, needlework and even jigsaw puzzles! My favorite dragons were the Dragons of Pern in the books by Anne McCaffrey. And oh, those dragons in the books by Barbara Hambly! They were the inspiration for the dragons in Heavy Metal. Is it any wonder I read so much science fiction and fantasy? Where else will I find dragons?
During the worst days of cancer, when I was hospitalized after the discovery and successful treatment of the scary pulmonary embola, I was treated by a team of surgical residents that spent a lot of time speculating about why the embola remained undetected for so long. I learned during some of these conversations that the spirit animal for the attending physician was a “golden retriever puppy.” When I asked him about that, he wanted to know what my spirit animal was. I told him a dragon, and that people probably liked him much better than me. He said, “I bet you get more done.”
I love puppies too, of course. But dragons? They’re the best.
Comments