Gift of RA

It’s hard to believe it has been two weeks since I did a post – maybe that is why I am cranky and irritable.  I used to write a journal and several asked me to send it to them.  I was just writing about my everyday life and when I took trips or had to go to the hospital as an inpatient.  I realized it was a good outlet for me, though I did have to edit it because I didn’t think anyone would wanted to hear about my pains, my crappy days and essentially read my whinges.  So, of course, people thought I had a very interesting life.  When I read some of it myself, I thought  “I had no idea what seemed ordinary, sounded really cool”.  I was able to do a lot of things, go places and explore.  I also had to take RA with me, so it wasn’t all fun and games.  It felt as if I had unloaded some of the crap when I wrote, plus I was glad to have written memories of places, people and things to look back on in a later time.  I did receive a lot of compliments on it which made me feel really good.  Right now it is all in binders somewhere in the depths of the basement.

The past two weeks have been interesting to say the least.  Once again I am back to having trouble staying wake or waking up in the morning.  I am not sure what this round of fatigue is unless I am reaching into the depths of the whole matter of fatigue.  I will say I have been sleeping better, having trouble waking up and getting going – I just want to crawl in bed and close my eyes.  I have been having naps, I wonder how soon the benefit will kick in.  Let’s face it, this time of year is not all that conducive to getting going – after 2 or 3 months of no rain, it has been raining since October.  Not those nice, gentle rains all the time, it often pours like crazy and will also bring very strong winds.  I am more secure since the lower drain was cleaned out.  It has been chilly as well, even saw some snowflakes in the rain yesterday.  Not cold enough to stick – I’ll stick with the wet stuff rather than the white stuff any time.  It is not all that much fun to go out in the sloppy weather since other people drive as if the roads are dry.  NOTE TO SELF:  You are pushing the no whinge zone a little too far.

Thursday night Eddie was invited to the Canadian Consular  General’s home for a holiday party.  It also was the same night of my breakfast club party.  Eddie has gotten to know the Trade Commissioner through the Future of Flight and we were both surprised and delighted to be invited.  I have spent the last several weeks trying to decide what to wear.  I spent hours online looking for what I had in mind, couldn’t find it.  If I had had the energy, I would have made a pieced jacket.  I wanted a little sparkle, but not flashy, but couldn’t find the colors I wanted.  I began to think about my purple jacket with gold threads, which led me to what to put under it.  I ended up buying a new pair of slacks from Nordstrom – I had money from the drug study I had done.  I really liked them and want to buy 2 or 3 other colors at some point.  They were altered for me and I am pleased with how they look and feel.

I finally decided to wear a white blouse under the jacket and my pieced purple corduroy vest – plus I found a really cook necklace that was just right.  Finally I was set – no more agonizing about what to wear.  It was from 5 – 8 so I figured it wasn’t a formal party, I was right.  I think a lot of people came from work, they were dressed well but not all glamour and glitz.  Besides, I figured no one was going to pay attention to what I was wearing, they had their own agendas.  We were there at 4 because we wanted to find it in the daylight – it was almost dark shortly after we came.  So we sat in the car for an hour until around 5.  I took my cane with me because it was a new place and I figured there would be a lot of people there.  Glad I did!  We were on Capitol Hill right across the street from the south end of Volunteer Park; the house is beautiful, yellow with white trim.  However, it is on the hillside, so that required climbing three flights of stairs with no hand rails.  So we took it slowly and when we were still on the first flight, a very nice gentleman offered to help and I was grateful.  We finally made it up to the house and met the Consular General and his wife.  They are a young couple and it looked as though they have two children because I saw them in the beginning and then were probably sent upstairs.

It is the kind of house I would love to have, crown moldings, looks as if it was built in the 20’s or 30’s.  Big rooms and french doors outside.  It was fairly quiet when we arrived but began to fill up rather quickly.  They had waiters and waitresses bringing around trays of appetizers – they were quite good.  I met several people but since I can’t stand that long, I had to sit a lot.  I got up to just move around and met the woman who works at the Consulate in marketing.  We had a lovely conversation and went into the small sitting room so I could sit down for a bit.  Later I had to use the ladies and when I finished, I went the long way around.  I met the Admiral for the Coast Guard for this region, a very nice fellow with ribbons all over the left side of his coat.  Then met one of his staff, also with many ribbons.  Then I was back sitting near Eddie.  He was doing very well, met some interesting people, including the gentleman who helped me.  I saw him in the living room and went over to thank him again for his help.  Turns out he is with a company Eddie has been dealing with and he seems enthusiastic to work with the Future of Flight.

We left around 7, it was really crowded by then and he was ready to go home.  It was raining a bit but not pouring, thank goodness.  I had the stairs to navigate, they seemed less of a task going down.  I took my time and we made it to the bottom without mishap.  It was amazing to see the streets crowded with cars, it was a good thing Eddie left room in front so we could get out.  We came home, had some tea and a snack, neither of us ate much at the party.  The next day I had to get up early to do my mammogram, then my massage in the afternoon.