Thursday a.m.

How are you today? There is a nice gentle rain falling this morning. I enjoy rain. It looks like it will be gone soon, but it has ushered in cooler weather, which is not going away soon. Back to reality, back to where we should be for this time of the year. I must confess I was enjoying the unseasonably warm temps.

My official Boston Marathon jacket came yesterday. I'm not crazy about the color, which is called "high energy," but it's the official color for this year. I always wondered, exactly, what high energy looked like. Now I know. One week from tomorrow Kedra and I fly to Boston. Hard to believe.

Yesterday was a good day anyway you measure it. I went to Mitchell Manor, which has become my usual practice on Wednesdays. One of the people I see is Hollace. He is a retired school teacher and the founder of the Bryantsville Hunger Relief Project.

He had a stroke a few years ago and can only say a few words, and they don't always fit the conversation. His mind works fine, but something is broken between it and his speech. It's hard to visit him in some ways, because I don't know what he is trying to communicate and he seems to get frustrated at his inability to share his thoughts.

Yesterday he seemed quite happy. He had something very specific on his mind and was quite animated. He motioned and pointed and then got in his wheelchair. Then he communicated that he wanted me to push him, so off we went on a journey. I had no idea what we were doing. Rolling, rolling...

Mitchell Manor is huge, and he took me all the way to the very end, to the physical therapy department. The therapist saw us. I said, "I'm not sure why we are here, but here we are." The PT looked at Hollace, and said, "You wanted to show him how far you walked today, didn't you?" That was exactly right.  It was a long walk, a long ride, and a nice visit. 

Rebecca is coming home this evening! I miss my little girl. A LOT! We'll have all the kids home this weekend. It will be so nice.

No run today. I might ride at 5 p.m. It's a 31 miler, but I must choose between that and swimming. Last week I did both. The ride went really well. . . ha ha. I will monitor Rebecca's estimated time of arrival before I decide. There is another ride tomorrow at Noon. That one is more likely for me.