The Last of Leo

It’s August 20 and only a few days of Leo left! Last year I expanded Nanifest to include any plans made during the festival week as a Nanifest Event. This enables me to celebrate with more of my family of relatives and friends since I can’t drive out to see them anymore.

I mentioned a while back that part of Nanifest this year is that I no longer drive, officially. On my birthday this year my last driver’s license expired and I replaced it with a State ID. It was a funny bit of irony there. When I renewed the license I had three years ago I used the walker when I went in to the BMV. At that time I was able to load the walker in and out of the backseat of the Camaro so I could use it to get to places once I drove there. I could still drive okay, but walking I couldn’t do without assistance. The clerk at the counter looked at me and the walker and asked if I could still drive. Well, I got there, didn’t I? I assured the clerk that I drove fine; I just needed the walker to walk. With a little trepidation she said okay and proceeded with the eye test. When I went in at the end of July to trade my last driver license for a state ID I got from not one clerk, but that clerk’s supervisor as well the question “Are you sure you want to give up your privilege to drive?” WAY different reaction to my identification situation than 3 years ago! I told them, from the seat of my powerchair, that TARPS got me here because I don’t drive, I can’t drive. I also added that I don’t drive FOR the other drivers. Yeesh; it was as hard to quit driving with a wheelchair as it was to keep driving with a walker. I haven’t driven in 2 years and I don’t have a car and the state of Ohio has finally let go. It’s a good thing they did the kicking and screaming about me not driving because while I scream just fine, I’m not up to the kicking part.

Naniday Breakfast

Double Chocolate Frosted Donuts!

There are two essential components to Nanifest in addition to as many of my people as possible. Those are ice cream and baseball. There was plenty of ice cream, all within my daily or weekly Weight Watchers point allowances. There was even ice cream and baseball together. I talked about stopping at Graeter’s with Rob and K, Rob insisted it was his Nanifest treat. I bought a Blue Bunny cone from a rest area machine on actual Naniday since the ice cream and fudge place at the rest area in Indiana was closed by the time we got in there, but Naniday started with David getting me 2 especially good double chocolate frosted donuts at the Dunkin Drive through near our hotel. We’d done a long weekend in metro Chicago chasing trains and seeing a day game the day before Naniday at the Kane County Cougars. Since we’d been to the West Michigan Whitecaps earlier David has now been to all the Midwest League stadiums I have and we have only the Wisconsin teams and Bowling Green Kentucky to have been to every Midwest League stadium!

 In the 10 days from August 8-17 I saw 4 baseball games, 3 of the Major League! David and I saw the Reds and Marlins in Cincinnati on the 8th and the Mariners and Tigers in Detroit on the 17th and we joined Rob and K for the Red Sox and Reds on the 13th. The 16th, last Saturday was the Strike Out MS dinner and ballgame in Toledo and I went to that while David was working. That game was a sellout and after dinner and a little talking about the Self Help Group I lead I went down to get closer to the game. Our area of seats didn’t really have enough wheelchair spots ad I like to be closer if I can so I went solo. The saddest part of that stretch was that the team I was rooting for lost every game! I did get 2 games with fireworks after, one that made my husband and cousin happy and one that let me see “My Mariner,” Austin Jackson…sniff, sniff…and at least Austin’s team won!

My Mariner (sniff)

After the Tigers game we went to Pop’s house for the second annual Leo Birthday Banquet. Pop grills a fantastic dinner and Aunt Judy, August 18, and I share the cake! We shared a birthday dinner last year and it was very cool, so when Pop asked about birthday dinner this year I suggested that it was a great idea to do it for both of us again. I think it’s going to be a regular thing now! Three of Aunt Judy’s grands, my cousin Lisa’s kids, were there to help eat the cake and ice cream, I mean celebrate, too. I wanted a photo of the Lovely Leo Ladies for my scrapbook and asked the kids to help “make their grandmother beautiful.” Aunt Judy never likes her photo taken because she is never happy with her look in photos. I got some nice candid photos of her at Christmas a few years ago and discovered the secret. I asked the kids to stand behind Pop when he was taking the picture and just be goofy for her and make her smile. It worked! She even said she liked the picture!

Lovely Lionesses

Marble cake with fantastic fudgy frosting. My piece was 26 points and pretty much replaces the 2-scoop waffle cone for the week. (But a new week starts tomorrow!)