Horses Jump; Betty's Run

I didn't write yesterday. Instead I put my energy into having a terrific day with David, checking out the Grand National Horse Jumping competition at Spruce Meadows. It's interesting. Despite the way the name sounds, nobody there was jumping over horses. Instead the horses did all the jumping. No matter anyway. I went to look at all the lovely horses, something much for fun to me.

The most interesting part of the day had nothing to do with horses and jumping. There were any number of displays from local first responders; fire, ambulance, police. David and I had a terrific time checking out all the cool displays; we even met some of the guys who had taken me upstairs when the elevator was out! Alas, I could not get into the various vehicle displays, but David sure did, every one he could.

Today was much more challenging. It was the day of Betty's Run. First and foremost, I want to thank those who walked with me today, both in person and in spirit. Thank you to those of you who donated, and a special thanks to David for staying overnight here to get me to the walk on time. Without the support of friends and family, without your help, my life would be a true misery. It is the people around me that make me want to keep living.

I will say, however, that living this morning was brutally interrupted. Home Care arrived at 7:00 AM. That's only half way through my night! I still had three and a half hours left in my slumber period. It's brutal on my body to get up at that time of night, or morning, or whatever you call it. After eating some breakfast, David loaded me into the van and drove me out into the pouring rain. It did not portend well.

The rain was solid, from the moment we got there to the moment we left; early I might add. It was cold, wet, and grumpy. Oh, that was me. Nonetheless, somewhere less than half way round the first circuit the common consensus was to bail. We did, just in time. I was beginning to become nearly physically ill from the cold and wet. It would seem that sitting in a chair, wheel or otherwise, not moving, getting rained one, all of this makes for a very cold Richard. I very much appreciated the consensus, very much wanted to get warm and dry.