Exhausted but happy

I woke up this morning feeling fairly strong, and wanting to go out again to enjoy a beautiful day and take advantage of Sally's visit. I didn't get out of bed for quite a while, and when I did I somehow managed to connect the end of the oxygen tube to another piece of tubing that didn't go anywhere, so I wasn't getting any oxygen. It was probably an hour before I discovered it--I had started to feel really weak again, but once I got things hooked up properly I felt better pretty quickly.

Marty found some information about a flower display that was being held in several locations in downtown Boston (as a substitute for the big annual flower show that was cancelled this year for financial reasons), and when Sally called I asked her if she would like to go to it. She was enthusiastic because she had never been in the actual city of Boston and wanted to see it. Dan Fisher, my National Empowerment Center colleague, who had been on the radio with me the day before, called and said he would take the subway and meet us downtown. Since we were going to be very near Chinatown, I asked everybody if they would like to go to a dim sum restaurant, which is something I've been craving (dim sum are assorted little dumplings served from carts). Marty dropped Sally and me in front of the restaurant and went to park, and when we got to the third floor (via elevator) where the main part of the restaurant was, Dan was standing there just about to call us on his phone to let us know he'd just arrived. I was walking very slowly and leaning on either Dan or Sally till we got to the table.

We quickly were served an assortment of dishes and sat and ate and talked for quite awhile. I'm really enjoying that my friends like one another and that we can talk about Israel/Palestine (Marty's specialty), psychiatric survivor issues, world affairs, and lots of other things, with conversation flowing freely.

When we left, Marty got the car and pulled up in front of the restaurant, and we drove a short distance to one of the big new hotels down by the waterfront, the Intercontinental. Marty pulled up in the driveway and an attendant said we could park the car there for I think $15 or $20, but then he was kind enough to tell Marty that there were some parking spots on the curb on the other side of the street (a little more complicated to get to than it sounds, but still good news), so Marty got my scooter out of the trunk and Sally, Dan, and I went into the lobby, which had some very big displays of roses that were dramatic, but somewhat of a letdown from what we were expecting. Behind the hotel was a big open patio looking out on Fort Point Channel, and it was actually warm enough to be outside, which was wonderful.

We then walked (with me in the scooter) about two blocks to a big office building, International Place, and the displays there were much more interesting. There were a lot of floral arrangements on different themes, as part of a competition for which ribbons were awarded, so we spent a bit of time slowly circling the big lobby. When we had finished I said that I was feeling really tired and wanted to go home, but Marty said that the way back to the car would bring us past the third location and we should decide then if we wanted to go in.

It was another office building, with revolving doors (no good for the scooter) and next to them a locked handicapped entrance. It took awhile before we could find an attendant who directed us around the side of the building to another entrance, but it was worth it, because that was the best part of the show. There were exhibits based on individual flowers--a huge display of all different varieties and colors of orchids, for one, that was breathtaking. While we were there they were breaking down the displays, and Dan and Sally asked if they could have a flower for their friend, who was sick, and instead they presented them with an enormous bouquet of yellow and rust-colored very long stemmed roses. I haven't counted but there must be several dozen!

On the way home Marty gave Sally a quick tour of Boston, then we dropped Dan off in Cambridge and came home and I immediately got into bed. I was so tired it was an effort to hold my head up, but once I was lying down I felt pretty good, and very happy that I had made the effort to get out.

I'm not going to acupuncture tomorrow because I'm scheduled to be on a conference call about housing for people with psychiatric disabilities (more actual work), so I'm not sure when I'll be going out again, but now that it's getting warmer it will be easier.