Tonight, as Suzanne finished getting ready to relax for the evening she proclaimed “It’s a Good Day!” For her, in the scheme of her last eight months, it was a hugely big day. Since February, she has been on a mission of proving the Dr’s wrong that she would only “eat for pleasure and probably never speak more than a few words in a row”.

Today was the sixth consecutive day that she ate 100% of her calories by mouth, and in most cases, even her meds. Every day she moves away from purchased bottled meals for new flavored, homemade concoctions. Smoothies are the vehicle of choice to add flavors to her diet. Unfortunately, smoothies aren’t calorie-rich so she usually has to fall back on a purchased bottled meal to complete her daily needs.

For supper, in Star Trek terms, she jumped to hyperspace. She made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Not using her trusty emulsion blender, everything just went on her plate and she proceeded to chop & mix things up. I’m not sure what prompted this newfound confidence in eating real food so I just sat back and watched. Success would be how she would categorize it. Although she didn’t eat all she wanted to as it became somewhat tiring, she was over the moon with the real food flavor crossing her pallet.

Our house is a Smart House, a very automated home that responds to voice commands. Ever since her surgery, Google hasn’t understood her commands which has been very frustrating for her. Tonight, as we walked into our bedroom she proclaimed “Hey Google, turn on the bedroom light”, and the light came on. The look on her face as she happily danced around the room was priceless.

It was at that moment when she decreed “It’s a Good Day!” And she was right, today was a good day. Just like yesterday as we enjoyed all the Brain Challenged Drivers navigating the flood; and last Saturday when we worked all day together preparing the flower gardens for the impending winter; and a couple of weeks ago where we attended the Covered Bridge Festival; and a month ago when we visited friends and family in Texas. . . . . . . . Every day of my extended life with her is one more good day, and the way things are going, I expect 8789 more good days to come.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

Romans 5:3-4

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