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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIt is Portuguese Heritage<\/strong> Month!<\/strong>!<\/p>\n To celebrate, Annmarie came up with a last-minute idea to visit Fall River, MA and get our Portuguese on.<\/p>\n I did have plans to go dancing the night before with another friend, but I figured I could handle both. Back in my younger days my friends and I would leave at 10 to go dancing and dance till 1 AM. Nowadays we leave at 7 and dance to 9:30. And with my recently reconstructed toe surgery I was less dancing than standing in place and swaying my torso.<\/p>\n It must have looked sad- so sad the lead singer of the cover band felt bad and came over to dance with me for 20 whole seconds. I only got in 5 dance songs, but still, the healing must start someplace, and I was out dancing!<\/p>\n In bed by 10, I was ready for Annmarie and our Portugal adventure to begin at 9 the next morning. We have done these types of shopping trips before, and it is always unusual fun. <\/p>\n (See No Curtains for You<\/a>.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n About 45 mins into our drive, she stopped at Dunkins Donuts<\/strong><\/p>\n Me- \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d<\/p>\n Annmarie- \u201cI\u2019m going to use the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Me- \u201cHuh..\u201d<\/p>\n Annmarie- \u201cIs there a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n Me- \u201cNo. I\u2019m just trying to figure out if I need to go too.\u201d<\/p>\n Annmarie- \u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n Back on the road, our first stop was a tiny bakery that just sold Sweet Bread. Imagine a place that only made and sold a specific kind of bread and delicious bread at that.<\/p>\n Our next stop was a Portuguese grocery store after I googled <\/strong>myself crazy looking for a real Portuguese bakery\/caf\u00e9 I had been to before but couldn\u2019t remember. Turns out, it was right next to the grocery store. So, after buying Portuguese groceries I did not need but hey, its Portuguese heritage<\/strong> month<\/strong>, we went to the bakery for some fancy coffee and a treat. <\/p>\n Then we headed to a Portuguese marketplace where I chatted with an author signing his book written in Portuguese, but I did not buy it. <\/p>\n One- I am ashamed to admit I don\u2019t speak the language of my ancestors let alone read it, and two- after buying those groceries I did not need, my funds were limited.<\/p>\n I did get to partake of the wine samplings, five high quality wines made from grapes from all different regions of the country and where I learned two things.<\/p>\n One- when the wine sampler guy talks about skin contact, he may not be coming on to you but instead talking about how the grapes in the wine are processed and two, despite my quick tiny buzz, I don\u2019t like expensive wine. A $9 bottle of Vinho Verde works nicely for me, thank you very much. <\/p>\n At Annmarie\u2019s urging I also went to the sardine sampling table. Not that I like sardinhas. But they were also sampling various tunas. I took a sample and promptly dropped it on the sardines which caused Annmarie to shake her head and hurry off to be a personal shopper for a lost American wandering the market. No disrespect, we were Americans too. I just feel superior by virtue of my last name, though I embarrass my ancestors by not speaking or writing Portuguese or appreciating sardinhas.<\/p>\n Good thing I like cheap wine.<\/p>\n We finished our heritage celebration day with lunch at a Portuguese restaurant and then a quick trip to an American grocery store just so the country of our birth wouldn\u2019t feel left out, and then we were home. Since Annmarie drove, I was able to rest my surgery foot, my MS <\/strong>legs and my multiple sclerosis<\/strong> brain. It had been a long but fun 24 hours, and I was ready for some good rest.<\/p>\n And that should have been the end of the story. But when I got out of Annmarie\u2019s car, I unlocked the trunk of my car to load my bags and then unlocked my front door and started bringing my bags into my house. And then I lost my keys. <\/p>\n I knew they had to be with me because I unlocked my trunk and my house, but I couldn\u2019t find them. Still, I decided to blame Annmarie and called her to see if she drove off with them. She hadn\u2019t and reminded me they had to be there- I unlocked my trunk and my front door. From the driver\u2019s seat of her vehicle, she saw me do it.<\/p>\n Did I check my bags? Yes.<\/p>\n Did I check my pockets? Yes.<\/p>\n Did I check my rain jacket, my purse, and the little table I use to throw everything on when I get home after a long, fun day? Yes, yes and yes\u2026.<\/p>\n I checked everything and everywhere as they had to be here. I checked my fridge in case I had thrown them in there when I unpacked my bags. I checked my trash in case I accidentally threw them in there for some unusual MS <\/strong>reason. I pulled my sofa apart as that was where I tossed my jacket and maybe they fell out and landed between cushions. I checked my bathroom since once I got inside my apartment that was one of the first places I went.<\/p>\n I ventured outside where I had left my trunk open after bringing in bags. I searched my trunk and since that wasn\u2019t good enough, I pulled everything out of my trunk and searched more. Nothing.<\/p>\n Despite the light drizzle I was afraid to close my trunk until I found my keys. I searched under my car and under my neighbor\u2019s cars. <\/p>\n I searched the path from my car to the door, the ground alongside the path and even my backyard a bit in case a bunny had hopped off with them, little, fluffy key thieves <\/p>\n Along the path was a fully developed bush. Maybe they fell in there? I looked, pulling the branches and leaves apart. Even though it was still daylight I thought a flashlight would help. I went inside to grab one, which, luckily, was where it was supposed to be, and took it out to the bush where I searched more.<\/p>\n In desperation because, say it with me now, my keys HAD to be there, I was less than gentle as I pulled the bush apart trying to find my missing keys. Suddenly the bush didn\u2019t look as developed as it did before and I STILL didn\u2019t have my keys.<\/p>\n I repeated my searching inside my apartment and out and then, literally 1 hour and 50 minutes later, I checked the time, I called Annmarie again to admit defeat. Her husband answered and before I closed my trunk, I asked him if there was a secret mechanism inside the trunk that would at least unlock my car until I found my back up car key.<\/p>\n I was pretty much in tears now, exhausted and planning in my head the cluster it would take to start replacing keys. He sympathetically said there wasn\u2019t anything like that in my trunk, but it was starting to rain for real now and I should just close my trunk, go inside and forget about them for the night.<\/p>\n I closed my trunk.<\/p>\n And there, in the trunk lock, was my key ring\u2026. \u201cF@$k!!!\u201d<\/p>\n This is where I should have used one of the few Portuguese curse words I know.<\/p>\n Annmarie said one day I would laugh at this and probably so, which is why I have written a blog about it. But I\u2019m not totally there yet.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s true, anyone could make the same mistake, MS <\/strong>makes me make them when I\u2019m most exhausted and then doesn\u2019t let me find an answer without wiping me out first. I wonder if it wasn\u2019t for my fatigue and my MS<\/strong> brain if I would have found the keys before I tore apart both my apartment and the innocent little bush in my yard. <\/p>\n As frustrated, angry (at myself) and overwhelmed as I was, would I have traded that for the fun day I had?<\/p>\n No, probably not. And fun and celebrating is important to us all. We MS\u2019ers <\/strong>can try to plan better and sometimes it will work and other times, not. The short story is, I lost my keys. We can all relate.<\/p>\n The longer version is losing my keys did me in on what was an otherwise lovely day. It\u2019s simple and it\u2019s not always so simple. <\/p>\n But as my Portuguese Aunt Lucia liked to say, \u201cAye Yvonne, is de life.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe to prevent this frustration in the future I will get one of those key thingy\u2019s that you can activate to play an alarm if you lose them.<\/p>\n They make those, right?<\/p>\n Does anyone know if they make ones that play Portuguese music??<\/p>\n To finish up Portuguese Heritage<\/strong> Month<\/strong> come hang out in Provincetown, MA June 27th<\/sup> to June 29th<\/sup> where we celebrate the annual Portuguese Festival culminating in the Blessing of the Fishing Fleet on Sunday. On June 27 specifically, myself and several other local writers will be reading from our work.<\/p>\n Check out the festival website for all the details!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n