As sleep quality has become more normalized, I continue to my sleep mask off and pull the covers over me during the night. Each night I don’t remember doing either of those things until the morning. I’m guessing that I could improve my sleep quality if I stopped doing either overnight. 

Sundays living in California are wonderful if you’re a football fan because it means that Sunday NFL Countdown starts at 7:00a.

I started the morning off watching football and then it became a long day of running errands.  

Today was the longest I had been out of the house since my injuries. However, as each week goes by I become less concerned about the amount of time I’m spending out.  

The hard part for me is having to rely on Laura to carry everything. In the last few weeks I have regained enough mobility in my shoulders to reach for my wallet to pay. Even that helps me to feel more useful but I’d still like to be able to lift grocery bags or other similar tasks. 

When I had my staples removed the neurosurgeon said that I could get my hair cut in 1-2 weeks from that date. His team had buzzed my head during surgical prep but it wasn’t exactly the same as having a hair stylist/barber do it. 

Therefore today I had my first hair cut since before the injuries. For someone who typically gets their hair cut every 2 weeks, going 2.5 months was a long time for me. 

I was fearful of getting my hair cut but it was long overdue. I chatted with the hair stylist to explain the scar and he did a great job of being sensitive as he cut my hair. 

As with so many other things during the last couple of months, I took a deeper appreciation of a task that I never really thought of before. 

Unfortunately we didn’t get in our Sunday walk like usual due to number of errands we had to run and Sasha’s grooming taking longer than expected. 

Another minor milestone on the road to normalcy was getting back to cooking a new healthy dish tonight like we used to do every Sunday. Thanks to Pinterest, we made a chicken, sweet potato, Brussels sprouts and apple skillet. It was delicious! 

Though it was against the 49ers, it was great to see Peyton Manning surpass Brett Favre for the all-time TD passes record. Peyton’s work ethic is something that we could all learn from and apply to our careers. 

It’s time to wind down and prepare for my first full (part-time) week back at work tomorrow.