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Photo by DavidG

It was the last week of what was supposed to have been a working month’s vacation. The month saw very little work — that bone crushing fatigue I experienced early in the year came back with a vengeance. I finally clued in that fighting it every day, trying to push through, and being upset that I couldn’t actually used up a lot of precious energy that if left undisturbed might actually make me feel better.

That just took three weeks. Because sometime, I’m overwhelmed by blonde moments. But once I figured it out, I let go and took the last 10 days of my time off to just be on vacation. Lo and behold, that gave me some energy to have a good time. I’m still tired — partly from the good time that was had — and still frustrated that I didn’t get any writing done, but at least I didn’t waste the entire month fighting the inevitable.

Chronic illness. Sometimes I forget that it decides what I do.

Moving on!

And I had a spectacular week. It started off with the perfect birthday, spent entirely by myself. When I was younger, I would’ve thought that would have been the worst way to spend the day, but apparently that changes with age. I wandered off to the Islands — I did it last year on my birthday, so now it’s tradition – and Mother Nature gifted me with astoundingly beautiful proper waves.

And a duckling or two.

Wednesday, I zoomed all over downtown Toronto continuing my quest for an accessible hotel room (more on that another day), to be followed by Thursday’s trip to the movies with a good friend in which we watched Mission impossible: fallout in 3-D. It’s intense. My palms are still sweaty.

It was a nice lead-in to the annual birthday weekend extravaganza. In biannual, I mean again that we did it last year and I liked it, so now it’s tradition.

What? It doesn’t work like that with you?

We’d planned to do Fan Expo on Friday, because last year it didn’t get super busy until we left around mid-afternoon. Somehow, people didn’t get the memo, because there were throngs. Throngs and throngs and throngs.

But it turns out that geeks are among some of the most considerate people in a crowd. We were there for four hours, and I only got bumped once. Cosplayers were careful about their weapons and props not getting in other people’s way and they were incredibly considerate around wheelchairs. I’ve been known to say that I can’t stand crowds, but it turns out that I can’t stand inconsiderate crowds. Fan Expo isn’t like that.

Last year, we saw something at one of the vendors that we have been talking about ever since. The owner of The House of Cool Stuff finds unloved stuffed toys and makes them into voracious, evil creatures with lots of teeth and blood. And they are hilarious. Or, as my niece called them, hilariously terrifying. So we bought a few for people we know will appreciate these cuddly little atrocities, niece included (shhh, don’t tell her).

The official birthday weekend can be a little intense. Lots of crowds and lots of fun on Friday at Fan Expo, then moving on to The Ex (giant fair) on Saturday. We decided to skip the air show, as we have many, many photos from the past several years. Instead, we focused on the buildings. One had things for the home, from hot tubs to ice packs (I scored four for $10!), Which morphed into the international area, and the Journey of the Silk Road with dioramas made of silk. It was stunning.

And this is where I’ll make my way back to talking about chronic illness for a moment. I’ve been taking a nap — or, as I call it, Mandatory Rest Period — every day for the last 15 (!) years. It is sacred, because without it, my levels of pain and fatigue are overwhelming. So I don’t touch it — I don’t move it for meetings or get-togethers or anything at all. And it’s a serious pain in the derrière. Sure, I feel better having that nap, but it interferes with doing fun things or doing work things and shortens my day significantly. But it helps me be feel better and be happier, so I do it.

On Saturday, for the first time in 15 years, I skipped the MRP. And I was okay. Sure, I had a four hour nap the next day, but I was okay. Not to the point that I’ll do this all the time, but being able to have a tiny bit of flexibility for very special occasions is absolutely wonderful.

This weekend wasn’t about being gifted with stuff for my birthday. Instead, it was about the gift of beauty, memorable experiences, and flexibility.

It was the best.