To drive, or not to drive?

Today has been a very long, very bumpy day. I must admit I am glad the sun is down and I can finally retreat to my bed.

The morning started off ok. I picked up my parents from their hotel, grabbed a few groceries for breakfast, and came back to the Fisher House. I ran upstairs into our room and pounced on J.R. It's my favorite way to wake him up. He doesn't particularly enjoy it, but the look on his face when I fly into the bed and tackle him is priceless. He rolled out of bed just in time to eat a bowl of cereal and run out the door for PT. After PT the priceless fun began.

We've been butting heads about the whole driving situation. He would love nothing more than to be able to lead a normal life. And a huge part of that is being able to drive himself. I can't blame him for being anxious. It can't be fun to have your wife drive you every time you want to go pick up a tool at Home Depot or a book at Borders. And even though I will gladly drive him to where he needs to be, it's not always fun for me either. I would love to be able to kiss him goodbye and watch him pull out of the parking lot and not return for hours. Unfortunately, the last time he drove he was in Iraq, driving a Humvee, and had all of his limbs. We are learning a whole new ballgame and some practice is desperately needed.

He has driven three times now. Nothing big. Small trips right around the Silver Spring area on roads he has been on many, many times. He has done very well, but I would really like to see him get a bit more comfortable behind the wheel before we head out to the beltways with tons of traffic. I just want him to be safe. Call me paranoid, but I almost lost him once and I'm not going through that again. Slowly he'll get all of his independence back... it's just going to take a bit longer.

After we made it through the yelling match we managed to have a nice evening. The parents and I grilled salmon on the grill. J.R. wasn't a fan of the golden beets we had with dinner. We really need to work on expanding his taste in veggies. If left to him, dinner would be the same thing every night and it would probably come out of a box. He claims he can cook but he has yet to truly share his expertise in the kitchen with me. Someday I'll return home to a full home cooked meal waiting on the table. Hey, a girl can dream right?

We got the dishes picked up and then we ran out the door to see Evan Almighty. It was surprisingly great. A really nice family movie with plenty of laughs. Even J.R. was laughing. His laughter made it worth the forty bucks to take us all out. Tomorrow we are hoping to get down to the Folk Life Festival for at least a few hours. Depending on how long we are downtown we might also hit up Arlington/Georgetown and show the parents around a bit. It should be a nice lazy Saturday. Well, lazy after the hour in the gym.

I skipped on the gym today so I have to wake up early to run tomorrow. My legs were jello after yesterday. I do not recommend two miles in twenty minutes with the resistance on ten and crossramp on six. Your body will hate you for it later, but your mind will be thankful for the release. Two more weeks on the elliptical and then I'm heading to the treadmill. I've never been a great runner, but now is a great time to change that. J.R.'s original physical therapist is returning next week after spending a few months on leave. Thank god. I'm hoping I can get her to spend a few hours in the gym with me to show me some new exercises. The woman is amazing. She has an exercise for everything and does them in perfect form. One can learn a lot from her.

For now it's time to stop pretending I'm Lee Ann Womack and head to bed. I'm sure J.R. will be thankful I'm going to sleep. Something tells me he doesn't like how I sing with my headphones on. He's already informed me I look like a nerd when I sing into my hairbrush. What fun is he?