spectacle

there are days and then there are days. yesterday was an event.

my friend Z was in town and for once i had activities planned. the big one being jazzfest, an enormous event here in the city.

saturday we woke up late, after going to bed really late, and began preparations for the day. i was feeling a little under the weather but figured it would pass. so we ambled out into the beautifully transformed day (it poured and flooded on friday)…came upon a deal for parking and tickets and the day was looking rosy.

our first stop was a zydeco band. as we stood there i began to feel ill…so i sat down and waited it out. later…feeling better, we headed to food – but i didn’t eat much (a true sign something was off). by the time we got to stephen marely i was truly beginning to go downhill. i went from standing, to sitting, to leaning to lying down on the grass. people passing by began to stop and offer me water and shelter from the sun.

Z finally managed to cart me through the crowd to a bathroom and then i collapsed in a heap beside it. worried, some of the festival staff called for the medical team. meanwhile i was transported a few yards away to the shade of a tent.

by this point i’m sweating profusely and shaking and really unable to care what else is happening around me. at the urging of a duo of sweet older women at a booth Z bathed my face and arms in cold water and then everyone urged me into a chair. now i was freezing. so despite the 90 degree weather they managed to find a quilt for me and wrap me up. after being fussed over by these two older women – urging me to suck on a mint, to drink some iced tea – i was truly feeling better. but of course by then the medics were there, they strapped me to the gurney and carried me to the medical tent.

there they managed to spritz me down with cold water…AFTER i told them i was freezing…and sat me in front of a cold blowing fan…AFTER i told them i as freezing. with little other attention there, and already successfully cared for by the folks at the tent (and the multitudes that stopped by to check on me while prostrate in the grass – i really do love southern friendliness) i was well enough to get up and out again.

my first thought was to go home…but feeling sturdier and the day near end anyway…i found some food to give me strength and wobbled over to the john mayer stage. he is AMAZING in concert…almost a different genre then his recorded stuff…from there it was home to ponder public displays of sickness and the company of friends.

Tags: friends, music, neworleans