Today was a good day. I am down 32lbs and feeling motivated to keep the effort moving forward. Or downward, I guess. I also seem to have dialed in my briefly-askew alarm settings and managed to get up on schedule. It's tough, given that it's getting darker in the mornings, but it's also rewarding in the time it allows me to do things that enrich my day. My morning routines are improving and 'Atomic Habits' are kicking in. Today's minor changeup was to remove Coffee from the 2-mile walk with Lauren. It's just more bother and cumbersome than it's worth. I found a long rusted screw on our walk, and picked it up, knowing how easily it could flatten a tire (from experience). As we walked and I contemplated what to do with it. My mind drifted off to my walks at LikeList and how I'd set a few stacked coins on a gate and just mentally checked each walk as to their presence. So I found a spot on our walk today to put the screw and do the same. I might move it, there might be better places, but at least it's started something we will do together. Once I returned and walked Scottie, I headed out to Cupertino to meet up with JJG. I took the entire AM off as a 'PTO balancing' thing. (If we don't use it, we lose it, so I use it right before I lose it.) It was a clear beautiful morning, I got my favorite (Hazelnut with cream) and enjoyed a 1+ hour catch-up with a friend I've not seen for a couple of years. He commented that Kelly had good things to say about my efforts to assist with Linda's situation and said "you'll be rewarded for it", and I said, "I already am". This is an amazing life lesson. And it's teaching me that life is good. As my BIG partner, Jessica said in a 1:1 conversation today, learning to be present and aware of your mortality can really change how you view little things. It's a challenging perspective to maintain, for sure, but I do feel like I'm learning to enjoy moments like today more than I might have a few years ago. As for Linda, I talked with her Dr today and he indicated that she was slightly more responsive this am including opening her eyes. Her verbal responses are brief if at all, but some do occur. Lauren and I experienced the same tonight. She said hi, a few other one-word comments, and even said "stop harshing on me" when we were pressing her to answer us! 😄 She also ate several chocolate coconut almonds on her own, with a couple of misses at first. After that, as long as I got her hand into the bin, she was able to pick them up and get them into her mouth. That is and was a huge change in her abilities and quite surprising. Jen made me some Keto chicken enchiladas earlier in the afternoon and Tommy brought home a bunch of Chipotle that we picked at for dinner. I'm ending the evening on the patio now with Jen and my feet touching as we lounge on the outdoor sofa with Lucky between us. Scottie's a chicken about being out at night, for some reason.