There are several reasons I haven't written a lot about Aaron this weekend, but the main one is that Aaron has been catching up on his sleep in a big way. According to Kelly, and Mom, who talked to Aaron on Saturday, Aaron slept something like nine hours today and a long time on Saturday, too. That's good for several reasons, not least the fact that if he's sleeping, he's not wasting away from boredom while he's on bedrest. It's not really surprising that he's slept so much given that he's been under general anesthesia three times in the last week or so, and that takes a toll on your body. It's also encouraging that he's been able to sleep a lot, because it means he's not in too much pain to sleep. Low levels of boredom and pain are answers to prayers.
I had a nice talk with Kelly today shortly after her friend Nikki left to go back home to Mississippi. It sounds like she and Kelly had a really good time together, and while Aaron slept, Kelly was able to get out and have some good girl time, much needed I'm sure. Spending a month in a hospital filled with Marines could get to be a bit of a testosterone overload.
Kelly also had good news to report, which is that Aaron's doctors say if Aaron continues to heal well, he will be able to check out of Bethesda on Wednesday and move on to Walter Reed. Aaron is going to be admitted to Walter Reed as an inpatient, which isn't fun in that it means he has to stay in a hospital room, but there is hope that he won't have to stay inpatient the whole time. Please pray that Aaron's skin graft will keep healing like it should and that he can check out of Bethesda soon. Please also pray that Aaron can become an outpatient as soon as possible. As much as that would make Aaron happy, I think it would also be really comforting to Kelly to have him with her on the outside of the hospital. Right now, she kind of orbits between his hospital room and her hotel room, and I'm sure that's getting old. Kelly is amazingly upbeat about it, but I know I wouldn't like staying in a hotel without Dan for so long.
Kelly and I also had a long talk about how much we both miss home food. One of the reasons that both Kelly and Dan have fit so well into the Rice family is that they both share one of my family's greatest passions: the love of good food. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of having Sunday lunch at my parents' house in Mississippi, my Dad makes the finest slow-cooked on the grill turkey dinner you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams, not to mention gumbo, shrimp curry, steaks and pork chops to die for. And my Mom makes potato salad that I pester her for every time I go home, and turnip greens, and corn bread that I dream about out here in the land of tortillas. And the sweet tea. Oh, the sweet tea. My point is that anywhere else in the country, there is no amount of money you could pay anyone to fix you that good a meal. They just aren't capable. I've known this for several years, but Kelly's recent exile to Maryland has opened her eyes to this truth as well. So we had a long chat about all the things we're going to eat next time we get home. I think we were both a little homesick by the time we got done talking. Homesick and hungry. I don't know what it says about me and Kelly as people that we can work ourselves into a state of absolute weepiness talking about food, but I think it's nice that we have this in common. Everyone should be so lucky.
I think that's it for tonight. Whenever Aaron wakes up, I'm planning to talk to him, and I'll pass on whatever I learn then. Thanks.