In these uncomfortable and discomforting times, I am focusing on comfort.
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Here’s what I find when I search for comfort on YouTube.
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Thanks to all who give me comfort, including YOU.
Posts Tagged With: The Charles River
Day 3813: In case you missed it
In case you missed it, the news has been very interesting lately.
Unfortunately, I did miss that article, so I can’t tell you why animals keep evolving into crabs. In case you missed it, I like guessing games, so I’m going to guess that animals keep evolving into crabs because (1) they need protection and (2) there’s a lot to be crabby about, including climate change.
In case you missed it, I arrange my latest photos (capturing little things you might have missed) in each blog post, hoping they’ll make some sort of cohesive sense, which can be hit-or-miss.
In case you missed it, there are many important observances today.
In case you missed it, I can find almost anything on YouTube.
In case you missed it, I am very grateful to YOU!
Day 2455: What helps?
What helps you?
What helps me is blogging every morning. What helps me is sharing my experience.
Today, I’ll be sharing my experience at my college reunion in a five-minute speech about living with my very unusual heart. It’ll help if I can record it, so I’ll do my best. If I can’t record it, I’ll help you experience the speech by sharing the full text here, tomorrow.
Yesterday, it helped for me to facilitate a Coping and Healing group at work and then to spend the day at my reunion with my long-time friend Lawry.
It helps to have friends. Here’s part of today’s speech:
So as I tell my story to you today, I wonder, perhaps along with you, what has allowed me to survive, so intact, through all this? What has helped me pick up the pieces, over and over again? As when I was a child — the love of my family and friends sustain me. Also, seven years ago I expanded my network of friends by starting a daily blog. Every morning, including today, I’ve written about my heart, my son, my passion for the healing power of groups, my song-writing, my cats, my hopes, my fears, this speech — whatever helps gird me and prepare me for the day ahead. The day after my heart valve surgery was the only day I needed a substitute blogger — my boyfriend Michael let my thousands of followers know I had survived the complicated procedure. Their comments included “Fantastic news! I’m in public but I’m dancing all the same,” and “’She’s going to be alright guys’ is the best line ever!”
In other words, I get by with a little help from my friends, including YOU!
Day 251: Walking the (Heart) Walk
Yesterday, for the first time, I did the Heart Walk in Boston, which was sponsored by the American Heart Association.
I was so engrossed in taking in everything around me, I didn’t take very many pictures.
So prepare for a short photo essay.
Here we go ….
My Day At the Heart Walk
by Ann
I drove there with Michelle, a wonderful nurse I know. Michelle and I arrived at the Hatch Shell, on Boston’s Esplanade, around 9:45, about 45 minutes before the official beginning of the walk.
The Hatch Shell, on the Esplanade:
(That is not a photo I took yesterday, as you probably figured out on your own.)
I decided to pick up a Red Cap, which they were giving out to anyone who was a “heart disease survivor.”
(By the way, that’s not a photo I took yesterday, either. That photo, plus the next two, are from the Boston Heart Walk website.)
RIght before the official start of the walk, they invited people with Red Caps to go up into The Hatch Shell, to give “The Red Cap Wave.”
It was inspiring and strange to be up there, for me.
This is similar to the view I had from the Hatch Shell, yesterday morning, as I was doin’ The Red Cap Wave (although I don’t remember any metal barricades).
No matter what was between me and the other walkers, I know the crowd yelled and clapped, very loudly, during the Red Cap Wave.
Then, Michelle and I stood in line to get some little foam baseballs signed by Luis Tiant, Rick Miller, and Jim Rice, from the Red Sox. While we were waiting in line, I saw Mark, a wonderful social worker I know. I was especially glad to see Mark, because we had planned on walking together, and I had thought that I might not be able to find him before the start of the walk. No worries (as usual).
I don’t have a photo of Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, and Rick Miller signing baseballs from yesterday, but here’s a shot of the little foam baseball.
After we got our baseballs signed, we were off on the Heart Walk!
Here’s the first photo I took yesterday:
As you can see, it was a beeeeooootiful day.
And such a beautiful route.
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That’s Michelle and Mark. When I had picked up my Red Cap earlier, they asked Michelle if she wanted that sign/sticker, in support of me. She carried that, all six friggin’ miles.
More things I saw along the way:
That’s one of the many cheerleaders we saw during the walk. After we passed her, and were crossing the Charles River, here’s a view back to where we had just been walking:
Here’s Mark and an unidentified dog, on the other side of the Charles River:
We saw lots of dogs and kids, doing the Heart Walk.
Then we crossed the Charles River, again, from the Cambridge side back to the Boston side:
And, before we knew it, the finish line!
Phew! It was a great day.
Thanks to Michelle, Mark, the American Heart Association, Jim Rice, Rick Miller, and Luis Tiant (and other Red Sox players past, present, and future), walkers, cheerleaders, my incredibly generous supporters, and to you, too, for reading today.