As I said my stroke was Ischemic and though it could have been worse it was bad enough. As I started to get better I tried to get used to the swing of the new realities of my life. I’ve been an event photographer for most of my adult life capturing ex-Presidents, Secretary’s of State and of course Congressmen and Mayors. There was a fund-raiser for the Mayor that I was donating my time and talents to. I expected the ususal event except this one was at a private home and I though it would give me a chance to experiment and see how my body reacted to the stresses and strains. This was about two months into my recovery and I was anxious to prove to myself that I could do what I always had done and to show myself I could rise to the occasion. I was barley off my cane at the time and still weak as could be and I figured I was good for an hour then I’d slip out and return home and rest. Well it was even harder than I figured and the event wasn’t at all what I had envisioned but I was stuck. I should have know better the moment I arrived that I was in over my head and just quietly turn back and gone home. No one was there from the association I belonged to who could help me I was on my own. It was a much bigger deal than I had figured, about 200 well heeled supporter were there including many that I knew. There was the meet and greet, handshake from well wisher who wanted to be seen and contribute, then of course the speeches. I sat and rested when I could but I needed to be on my feet much longer than I figured and when I needed to reload that was a pain I hadn’t counted on. I need to squat down to get at my bag to get the film, luckily I had put my bag under the piano so I had something solid to lift myself back up. Then I had 36 exposures to get though. I was really shaky on my pins going back down the steps and knew beyond a doubt that I wasn’t really ready for my life yet but in time.