Me Time

First off I want to clear up for anyone who read yesterday's blog and thought that was a naked picture of Jim with me in the High Line photo. No it is a very lifelike sculpture.


Today Jimmy had blood work and a dermatology appointment. Depending on what his blood work showed would determine if he had to stay for IV fluids. He insisted I take a day for myself and not go with him to the hospital. After breakfast I packed him a lunch and put it in my backpack along with his computer and a couple of water bottles and sent him on his way. We both laughed when I said I felt like I was sending my baby off to kindergarten. For the most part, I have been by his side every step of this journey so it was normal to feel a little twinge of uncertainty when the elevator doors closed.

I decided to walk to the SoHo district. It's about a 45 minute walk towards lower Manhattan but it took me a lot longer as I stopped to smell the roses along the way. I began my walk and was not even a block away from the Hope Lodge when I spotted a familiar face dancing in the street. I don't know his name but he is one of the beggars who sits on the corner and can usually be spotted around Penn Station. Not sure if he is homeless. He is a very colorful character, quite flamboyant and very tidy in appearance. In the early part of the day you can find him dancing during the light changes at the corner of 7th Avenue and 32nd Street. This is his beat. In the afternoon he is usually sitting quietly with a cup for coins, smoking a cigarette or talking to the vendors who line the streets with their $2.00 polos and $5.00 watches for sale.

As I continued to walk my mood went from happy, watching the man dance in the street, to dismal. I rounded the corner and saw the sad remains of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava. I remember seeing this church on the television recently. On May 1st the cathedral was gutted in a fire hours after its parishioners celebrated Easter Sunday. Luckily the church was empty and no one was injured. The skeletal remains of the 168 year old cathedral was haunting.

I continued walking and came upon Union Square Park. I met a large man who looked like CeeLo Green. He was dressed in a red and white outfit sitting at a table with a red and white chess set challenging passersby to a quick game of chess. In various parks in New York people set up chess boards and clocks and play against others for $5 a game. Sometimes it's $5 to the winner. Other times the person with the board collects the $5 regardless of who wins. The game is called blitz chess and the clocks are set for 5 minutes. I sat down and chatted with Twitty From the City as he called himself. He was a true New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn. He was taught chess as a boy and stressed the importance of continuing to teach it to the youth of today.

I continued on, walking through NYU campus and strolling through Bloomingdale's. Next I headed to by Chloe, a favorite vegan restaurant that I have been to twice before. It's actually called by Chloe. I ordered my lunch to go and walked over to Washington Square Park in the heart of Greenwich Village. I chose a bench next to the dog park so I could watch the pups run and play. There were so many shapes and sizes. It made me happy. There was so much going on in the park: NYU graduates dressed in their purple robes, more chess players, street musicians, a unicyclist, sunbathers, picnickers, artists and the man with pigeons sitting on his head and in his lap...quite gross.

After my nice time in the park I walked back to the Hope Lodge arriving about 30 minutes after Jim. He had a good visit at the clinic. His creatinine and potassium levels are starting to come back down so today he did not have to stay for IV fluids and medicine. We will still watch his diet for potassium and he will continue to drink lots of water to flush out the kidneys but it was a nice break to get out of the clinic a couple of hours earlier than usual.

We still had the rest of the afternoon and hung out on the 6th floor for a bit. We also spent time in the kitchen talking with a couple of the other residents on the floor. I'll tell you more about them in a future blog.