Last week was quite a week!
My good friend Pat came all the way down from his home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to help me through my first cataract surgery. Pat had cataract surgery last year. Also, I hadn't seen Pat in person for over two and a half years although we're in contact daily via FaceTime and Zoom.
My surgery was on Thursday. Pat arrived the previous Sunday. He took an American Airlines flight to Philadelphia, visited our mutual friend Don McK. in center city Philly, then drove his rental car down here to Casa Tipton-Kelly here in southern Delaware. I immediately put him on my John Deere Zero Degree turn lawn mower tractor (video will follow in a future blog posting).
I took advantage of Pat's visit to go into Rehoboth Beach which is only ten miles down the road (Route One, Coastal Highway). Although I live close to Rehoboth Beach and love the boardwalk, I never go in summertime, the traffic is just to heavy. But I do miss the boardwalk and the "summer experience" of the crowds and people watching. Usually I only go to the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk in fall or early spring and on those rare winter days that have mild weather. I rarely visit the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk in the throes of the summertime crowds. Last week I did and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only downside was the oppressive heat but we did catch a few ocean breezes that made walking the boardwalk tolerable.
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| Pat at the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk July 18, 2022 |
I secured a commitment from Pat that he will visit again next year so we can "walk the boards" on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. We also visited the boardwalk in the evening and visited Funland. We actually played some of the games and Pat even won a small stuffed owl playing skeet ball. Wonder of wonders, someone I knew actually won a prize. The last time I played any games at any of these cheapo games was at a carnival when I was ten years old when I lived in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. All I remember is being cheated out of a prize that I won by placing a quarter on the winning number at one of those spin the wheels fraud games. That soured me on those games, they're all fixed or almost impossible to win. After Pat won that stuffed owl I played a few games (about ten dollars worth) but of course didn't win anything. I'm terrible at that kind of thing. Sports, gambling, et al. I brought a lottery ticket for Mega Millions that the winning prize is over ONE BILLION DOLLARS. Of course I won't win that either but hey, one can dream. I could BUY the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk if I won a billion dollars. But would I want to? That's the question but I digress.
Last week's visit by Pat was a wonderful diversion to my year and a half of 24/ 7 caregiving for Bill. I took a lot of videos which I will share in future blog posts. So much fun! By the way, I discovered that I can take a shuttle bus to the boardwalk for only eighty cents (senior citizen rate). As I said before, I don't go to the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk in the summer because of the heavy traffic (parking lot) and the parking expense. However, the bus ride is fast and cheap. I will be returning to the boardwalk and taking more videos. Thanks to Pat for opening this new escape hatch for me. I love taking care of Bill and am so appreciative that I can but I do need an occasional diversion and the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk is great diversion. I love those ocean breezes and the sound of the surf.