I was invited to attend the annual Vancouver Street Soccer League playing with the Vancouver Police Department by park board Commissioner, Sarah Blyth, on Saturday, May 25th.

Daniel and I spent most of the day in the garden but dropped by to say ‘hi’ as I haven’t seen much of Sarah since her election to the Vancouver Park Board. She’s been really busy with all the projects she’s initiated and I’ve been dealing with my complex health concerns for the last four years.

I had been given pins from the MS Society to distribute as and I gave one to Councillor Andrea Reimer a couple of weeks ago. I was pleased to see that she came to participate in the game.

Then Mayor Robertson arrived and I took advantage of the opportunity to give him a pin as well.

A few minutes later, Chief Constable Jim Chu arrived. He said a few words and then tweeted a photo.

#VPD officers are playing mini games with Vancouver Street Soccer players. pic.twitter.com/a3TzVK7It8

— Jim Chu (@ChiefJimChu) May 25, 2014

I went to introduce myself to Chief Chu. My cousin Steve was with the VPD for many years and was a Deputy Chief under Chief Chu before retiring. Chief Chu knew a fair bit about the large Sweeney family and he was pleasant to talk to. I asked if I could take a photo with him and the other officer and they were more than happy to oblige.

Sarah Blyth arrived with Trish Kelly, a young woman who is seeking a nomination from Vision Vancouver to run for the park board. I asked for a photo with both of them.

Before I left, I presented a pin to Commissioner Blyth.

I really enjoyed myself with all this excitement and the interesting people I met. I chatted with some of the players and other observers. It felt good to be in a social environment that had nothing to do with MS, even though I was giving out pins.

Perhaps next year I’ll be in a position to do more for MS Awareness. But I really enjoyed being back in my element.

I’m now fifteen weeks post TVAM (Transvascular Autonomic Modulation) for CCSVI at Synergy in California , and I’m feeling really good. Daniel and I have both been marvelling at my increased ability to get through the day. In fact, yesterday, I walked over 17,000 steps as I walked to two appointments. My mood has been more stable and my sense of humour is returning. These are all welcome changes. In addition to the surgery, I have made further changes to my diet, inspired by the amazing Dr. Terry Wahls. I’ll blog about that soon.

I have been working with a physiotherapist who is a specialist in the cervical spine to help me take steps to avoid surgery for my osteoarthritis as that would be a last resort. If I can maintain function with minimal symptoms, that will be acceptable.

And last week I decided it was time to get a bit more active and buy a bike. I bought a step-through hybrid at The Bike Doctor and received outstanding service. While I may not have thought I’d ever buy a lavender bike, it’s one of their new colours and one that was in stock.

I wanted to say ‘good-bye’ to my old bike that I bought in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1991. I had just graduated from Purdue University and was going up to Wisconsin for my clinical fellowship. So, I was feeling a bit nostalgic and thought I’d run a short errand on the old bike. The position isn’t a good one for me anymore as it puts too much strain on my cervical spine.

We’ll be putting the Trek 400 up for sale on Craisglist this week. It’s a vintage bike now.

I shop regularly at Organic Acres , a nice organic store a few blocks away from my house. One day I started a conversation with one of the employees and I enjoyed our continued interactions. I told her a bit about myself and gave her one of my business cards. When I learned that Sarah was an artist, I took one of her business cards and viewed her website where I recognized her talent.

One day at the store, I asked another employee where Sarah where she was as I hadn’t seen her on her regular shifts. I learned that she had a deadline for the work she was doing illustrating a book. The next time I saw Sarah she told me that she was hired by Kathryn Govier for the book. I used to volunteer for the Vancouver Writers Festival, so I knew who Kathryn Govier was and had even met her in the mid-nineties.

Sarah told me about the book launch for her book, “Half for You and Half for Me” scheduled for Saturday, April 26, at Collage Collage, 15th and Kingsway. I know that it’s hard for most women to promote themselves, so I took it upon myself to drop off event cards to all my neighbours that I know who have children.

By the time I arrived at the book launch, she had already sold out! I looked through a copy of the book and was so impressed with the beauty of the book and the gorgeous illustrations. I got sort of choked up because I was so excited for Sarah and so proud of her accomplishment. I guess when you are a middle-aged woman with no children, you tend to ‘adopt’ the young people in your life. We asked one of Sarah’s friends to take a photo of the two of us.

The next time I saw Sarah, she told me that the book had been selected as one of “Heather’s Picks” at Chapters/Indigo. That’s so amazing — sort of like the Canadian Oprah endorsing your book!

There is a lovely feature about Sarah Clement in a blog “papergirl” that gives you some insight into who this young woman is and how she lives the life of an artist in Vancouver.

I’m happy to say that I quickly ordered my own copy and brought it to Organic Acres to get signed. Now I’m the proud owner of a signed copy of the first printing of the first edition of “Half for You and Half for Me.”

If you want to know more about Sarah Clement and her work, you can visit her website .