Tulip Festival

Nola came into town for a long weekend visit.  Mom and Chuck came up to see her as well and we all decided to head to Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival.  The Tulip Festival runs for a few short weeks.  They have a huge garden area with trails, trees, waterfalls, and even a food court with a amphitheater of sorts where a band was playing.  We enjoyed lunch at the Harvest restaurant and then ventured to the garden area.

This is a long way to walk for even the most healthy of people.  Nola thankfully reserved us VIP parking, Fast Pass entrance, and a golf cart to ride in while we toured.  Somehow, I became the designated driver.  I've never driven a golf cart but how hard can it be?  Right?  Well it is tricky when you are sharing the path with 10,000 people walking the same trail.  I tried really hard to be patient and wait for kids and people jumping in front of the cart.  And I am positive I drove people crazy with my sudden stopping and starting.  The flowers were gorgeous.  There were places to pull over and go explore on foot.  And the smell was intoxicating! We had a fabulous time and decided we would do it again...but maybe not on a Saturday afternoon again.

Tea for Eight

My International Foodie group planned one of the best events yet.  We went to Grand America for afternoon tea.  I was on the waitlist for the longest time but finally got cleared to go and I was thrilled!  As I checked the attendees, they were some of my favorite women there.  I was surprised no men attended but perhaps it is more a "girl" thing.

Grand America does a fabulous job with anything they do but the brunch was delightful.  We had a beautiful table in the window looking over the garden area.  We started with  fig appetizer cracker, berries with chantilly cream, and English scones.  We also had cheese and crackers, champagne,  and of course tea.  Then came the racks of tea food.  We had chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, salmon crackers, and deviled eggs.  We also had cookies, mousse, fruit gumdrops, and french macaroons.  Needless to say, we were all stuffed but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Dried hibiscus flower wrapped in tea leaves
 that unfolds to a great herbal tea.

After we ate, we enjoyed a stroll through the garden area.  While it was a little windy, it was beautiful and smelled of Spring flowers.  All this did great things for my soul.

I am so happy Nola urged me to join these groups.  I have met such great people and enjoyed some great experiences.

Graduation

Last week, I graduated from physical therapy.  I started after my trip to Cuba and the struggles I had there (which were more significant than what I face in my daily world) and I knew I could do better.  I was referred to the Balance center that is part of TOSH which is a great orthopedic center in Salt Lake.  I was assigned to Julia.  My first impression was that she was super fit (as you would expect from someone that does exercise for a living) and a young Mom. And while these things are true, I quickly learned she was kind and understanding and really wanted to help me meet my goals.

My goals were simple:

• Get more steady on my feet in my daily activities
• Lose the cane as much as possible

Julia didn't know much about Myositis nor IBM but she was intrigued and wanted to help.  Within my first 2 weeks, she had studied up and learned more about my disease.  She was excited and wanted to help me avoid falls and live the best life I can.  We had some ups and downs learning what my body can do - how to handle injuries and illness and discouraging results.

She explained that balance is 3 parts: hearing, seeing, and feeling of the ground.  I had developed some bad habits in my fear to not fall.

What I left with:

• The ability to walk a 6 minute walk at my fast but safe speed increasing 1/2 lap in speed
• How to use trek poles effectively
• Walked on grass with no aid
• Go up and down a curb
• Walk on a sidewalk confidently
• Navigate uneven surfaces and unexpected terrain
• How to walk with my head up and looking around (instead of studying the ground)
• Gain confidence when out at night/in the dark
• Practice fall recovery and how to get off the floor
• Ability to stand on one leg 10 seconds
• Ability to walk on soft surfaces like foam
• Ability to step over double stacked boxes
• Ability to walk backwards
• Ability to walk and turn around and walk backwards and back forwards without stopping.

All these things improve my daily living.  I had no idea I would get all these things too!  Each and every one opens up my world just that much more.

I am going to keep in touch with Julia.  I will be continuing to work at home on my home program.  I am going to report back how things go in Bermuda and on the ship.  We will see how it compares to the Cuba trip.

I feel like Julia and I became friends.  We laughed so much and made up names for my exercises (Confident walking, shopper walk, date skills, No Core Core exercises, the Jimmy Fallon exercises).   We would talk about the challenges of being a Mom.  We also shared a love of Jimmy Fallon.  We had a good time and often laughed often through my hour.

I am going to miss Julia but I know she is just one PT order away.  I have her email and will keep her posted so I can keep getting better.  The Bermuda cruise is just a skip away but the next challenge will be Moab and getting around there.  Then the big goal is the Panama Canal cruise later this year.

It is such a nice surprise when you run into someone that not only is great at what she does but she is a great person too.  One of those providers that become friends and a great caring provider.

Kicked to the curb

Well not really but after 24 years, I was called in to clean out my office desk.  We are running out of space.  It’s okay.  I’ve worked from home for 8 years but have always had a desk in the office.  It was such a huge job to clean everything out.   Not only did I clean out my desk but two of my co-worker's desk and 3 file cabinets that stored my teams stuff. 

My body is completely exhausted! I won’t lie, it feels weird to turn in the keys and walk away.  I have a huge box of stuff I brought home.  Now I can sort and set up here! (NOT)  I do have a shared “pod” desk I can schedule to use when I am in the office.  What I get out of the whole thing is I really don’t have the pressure to go in anymore which is great.  Works for me!!