We began this day with coffee in the car, headed to Alameda at 10:30 a.m. This was to be our first nail salon appointment in many months! We drove around a lot before we could find a suitable parking place. I put Emily in the black soft carrier and left one opening a little unzipped (so she could stick her nose out).
It’s amazing how much can change in 19 months. And how much is still very much the same. The most obvious change was the Plexiglas dividers between each spa chair (and the Plexiglas dividers on the manicure tables). There were the same disposable plastic liners in the foot sinks. Of course, all the pedicurists wore masks and there was a sign asking the customers to wear masks, also.
Emily stayed in her carrier (not by her choice, though). She looked out the window for awhile then turned around inside the carrier so she could see Mom. I picked out the polish colors for myself and for Linda.
It was not the soothing, relaxing nail spa day for Linda that we used to have before she developed so much pain in her right knee. It was really exhausting for her! So we only went to Safeway and I went in by myself and hurried through as fast as I could.
4:00 p.m.
The online Pain Group was very good today, no technical glitches. I put my video on but stayed muted and didn’t try to talk at all. In spite of being very sleepy, I made iced coffee to sip and stayed awake except for the last few minutes. Francis facilitated a Tai Chi routine designed to help with back pain. He gave a link to an NIH study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5073764/) and then a link to the 17-minute YouTube video that our “gentle movement” today was based on:
