A busy day

Although I don't feel like going any further than the kitchen, it's been a pleasantly busy day. First I had a visit from three people I've worked with over the years, Bernie from the Mental Health Association, and Joan and Beth from the Department of Mental Health (Bernie and I are the long-term co-chairs of the Massachusetts Mental Health Planning Council, with Joan and Beth of DMH doing the staff work). I had started the day by making my own breakfast (tea and grilled cheese on whole wheat--still another of my comfort foods), and eating it in the kitchen while Marty was still sleeping. By the time I finished he was up, and getting himself organized to go back to his house (about a mile away) to do his laundry and other errands, but then his friend Donna called and said she needed his help with some car problems, so he headed there instead, knowing I'd have people with me most of the day.

When Bernie, Joan, and Beth arrived, they were all wearing bright green plastic St. Patrick's Day sunglasses, and they looked so funny I took a picture with my cellphone camera. I told them I didn't have enough energy to go to the living room, so they brought in some chairs from the dining room and arranged themselves around the bed. Next, they produced a hilarious proclamation, which was read out loud, full of "whereases" and "therefores," the gist of which that I was declared Honorary Irish. To complete the theme, they also brought a little book of Irish proverbs, and a box of shamrock cookies from the Dancing Deer bakery, covered with, of course, green sugar. When Marty left we were all chatting away, and an hour or so passed really quickly.

Ann arrived while they were here, and she unloaded the dishwasher and put things away in the kitchen. I introduced her to everyone and we continued a wide-ranging conversation that hopped from topic to topic, until they all said they needed to leave. I invited them to come back another time, and I also asked that they let the Commissioner know that if she wanted me to resign as Co-Chair I certainly would, but for now I'd prefer to stay on (which all of them thought was fine).

Once they had left, I sat in the kitchen while Ann took everything out of the refrigerator. I know there was a lot of stuff in there that needed to be thrown out, and it was so full it was hard to find anything. Yesterday, when Marty got back from a Trader Joe's run, he found he couldn't stuff any more into the freezer, so he took everything out of there and organized it, and now the fridge is similarly well-organized. Ann also washed down all the shelves, and when Marty called a while ago I told him he's going to be amazed.

While Ann was still here Kathy arrived, and we reviewed how my days had been going since she was here on Friday. I told her it's been up and down, but clearly I'm much better than I was the last time I was here, and she said that clearly the antibiotic was helping. I'm halfway through the ten day course, and hoping that I'll begin to put together more than one good day in a row. When she arrived I went back to bed, as I'm definitely more comfortable there.

The next visitor was my hospice volunteer, Jen, so Ann left, and Gen brought in a chair. We just talked about a lot of different things. Last time she was here, she mentioned that she played Scrabble, and I told her that, although I'm quite a word person, I had never really gotten into Scrabble, but that one of my Valentine's Day presents from Marty was a word game, which is called Wordspot, and we planned to try it. So today I got it out of the sealed box (I hate how everything these days comes so tightly sealed that it's a challenge to get to it) and we started reviewing the rules, but it sounded complicated and somewhat unclear, so we finally decided that maybe I should figure it out with Marty.

Last night, in fact, we were deciding whether to learn this game, but instead I ended up teaching Marty another word game, Jotto, which I used to play with my parents all through my childhood, and which I hope Marty will want to play regularly. We've been doing the crossword puzzle together every morning, and our constant wordplay and punning are a big part of why we get along so well and have so many good laughs. So one of these days we'll have to figure out Wordspot.

I've been resting since Jen left. I didn't get hungry until around five-thirty, so I just heated up some lasagne which Marty got at Whole Foods a few days ago; I guess later in the evening I'll have a light snack. I've been getting very short of breath after any minor exertion, but I definitely feel a whole lot better than I've been feeling.