In all of my years of going to school – 12 years in public school, two of college – I never once got a good report card, I was never able to focus on learning. I imagine if I were evaluated, I would have some sort of learning disability, or perhaps someone would notice that I am crazy.

I still cannot do math of any kind, I always could write.

Today I finally got a good report card, and it was an important one. I am two weeks away from the first anniversary of my open heart surgery and I told Maria I have no idea,  really, whether i should celebrate it or forget it. I went to see the cardiologist for my first-year check up, had an EKG and other tests. I remember last year’s EKG, it landed me in the hospital.

This one was different. “This is wonderful,” said the cardiologist, and he said my heartbeat was wonderful also. He is not given to enthusiasm or hyperbole, so I was pleased. He said I was doing great, we talked briefly about medications like statins and blood thinners, which I will be on the rest of my life. He said I was on track to live a long time in a healthy way. He congratulated me on my learning curve and my attitude and determination to get well and stay well.

It felt great to get a report card like that, I wish I’d gotten more, it’s good for the ego. I have been working hard to stay healthy and it was gratifying to know it was turning out so well.

I am writing a lot about mysticism this week, and I recall that my surgery was very much a mystical experience for me. I remember after the surgery – Pamela Rickenbach reminded me of this – that I felt I was transported to another place, a place with golden fields, a different place. I felt that I had left my body and been transformed, and then I woke up in the ICU and I was attached to so many tubes and wires, and I said “let’s take a walk,” and I did and I have been walking every since.

When they stopped my heart and took it out of my body, I died in a way, and was then reborn. I suppose it doesn’t get too much more mystical than that.

I thank the doctor, and we shook hands. He said I didn’t need to see him for another year. I feel a bit like the other kids, only this time, the ones with brains. I got my first good report card in 68 years, and it was a good one.