Some Independence

Since my friends Kerry and Tammy left Thursday morning, I have been on my own more than I have since I moved here to St. Louis.  It is both empowering and scary all at once.  I am proud that I have come this far and am able to do so much without assistance.  But I am also still worried that something could still go wrong and I will be alone.  I am told by my other transplant friends that these are very normal feelings, so I just try to go with the flow and ride them as they come.  Having Sherman here with me has helped a lot too; he is such good company to me.

I have tried to fill my time these past few days with both rest and doing things I wanted to do before leaving town.  Since I was released from rehab on Wednesday, I actually had four days off from hospital activity!  (It was very hard not to return to KY for another long weekend!)  On Thursday after my friends left, I had a very lazy day here at the hotel, which I needed after all of that dancing on Wednesday.  :-)  But I got up energized on Friday morning and had the hotel shuttle take me back to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  It was quite warm, but I arrived at around 10am and just paced myself while walking around.  I had mainly gone back to see the Japanese Garden and I am so glad I did - it was beautiful!  I took many pictures while there for about three hours, a few of which are below.

The sacred lotus were blooming

The koi were large, and hungry!

On Saturday, Paul and Kristi helped to keep me from getting too lonely by inviting me to go to St. Charles with them.  St. Charles has an old town section that has brick-lined streets and lots of quaint shops and restaurants.  We had a very nice time perusing the shops and having lunch and ice cream.  I even bought a few Christmas gifts and some doggie treats for Sherman.  It was a good day!

Daniel Boone and me in St. Charles

Main Street in St. Charles

Sherman got a little horse doggie biscuit!

Today I slept in and then got out and took a few pictures at Lafayette Square and did a little shopping.  It was very hot and humid today, so I didn't stay out too long.  A nice nap this afternoon and just relaxing and blogging this evening.  Another thing that has kept me occupied this weekend has been the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family.  :-)  I so hope to be home by this weekend so I can see the final movie with my family!!