Excellent week

Its been an amazing week - it takes so little to make me happy these days.  My family went to Escondido to have dinner with our family friends and we lucked out because Michelle, her husband Sean and their beautiful daughter Maddy were in San Diego for a visit - so I finally got to meet Sean and Maddy.  Maddy became my new buddy and she is truly a lovely little girl, she is fun, outgoing and personable. She has the sweetest giggle and we had a hard tine paying any attention to our dinners. She will be 3 years old soon, is it weird that my newest pal is 3?
My lovely friend Nicole Brebner Spradlin is in San Diego for a short visit and yesterday I got to have lunch with Nicole, Kate and Ruth.  I was also able to meet Nicole's beautiful daughters Kylie and Taylor.  Its hard to believe but I have known Nicole since the 6th grade - how crazy is that?  We've been friends throughout so much, we've been roommates, had good times and bad, and after not hearing from Nicole in a long time she was told of my accident and made so many efforts to let me know she was thinking about me and praying for my recovery.  Nicole sent emails, cards and pictures to me in the hospital and she stayed current on my condition by staying in contact with Kate.  Kate, Ruth, Nicole and I went to lunch at Hash House A Go Go, Kate, Nicole and I went for coffee in PB and then we went to camp land by the bay to meet up with Nicole's mom and daughters.  Kate and I spent the evening by grabbing dinner and seeing a girlie movie - I am so grateful and I feel so lucky to have such amazing girlfriends.  The kind of friends who will do anything for you; they boost you up when you are feeling down,  they offer advice when you are confused about just what to do, they will drive you around when you can't drive yourself, and they always find a way to make you laugh when what you really want to do is cry.
In addition to all the other greatness this week we went up Escondido for breakfast and I got to spend the morning with my new pal Maddy - she is such a joy to be around and a great reminder of how little it takes to make a child happy, a life lesson that the adults need to be reminded of every once in awhile.
We also went to our neighbors house for dinner, they always take the time to make gluten-free foods that my mom can confidently eat; just one more aspect of true friendship: they will take care of you in what may seen like a small way but in the grand scheme of things; its the small ways that make all the difference.

A day out with Kate and the kids

I was able to spend the day with Kate, Joel and Alexa yesterday.  We went to Balboa park and spent the day at the Ruben H. Fleet science museum, saw a super cool dolphin movie and went to an early dinner at Pizzeria Uno...so fun!  I had a very interesting conversation with Alexa about my recovery process - I explained to her that for awhile it seemed like I could see that I was getting better at a pretty fast rate but the doctors warned me that it would slow down, and it definitely has.  Now its hard for me to see any improvements so I was telling her that I like to see my therapists because hey can point out specific things that have improved.  She said "Auntie Nikki, I know that you are still getting better because I see a big difference from when you first came home, and not matter what I love you!"  Can I just tell you how much it means to hear those words from my favorite soon-to-be third grade girl?  Kids are honest and they are going to tell you what they really think, whether you want to hear it or not...