Today has been much better. Now that I know to watch for the anxiety surges in the morning, I hope I'll be able to manage them more effectively.

This morning when I got out of bed, I had to remove Ripple from spooning S! It was too cute. She had her paws literally around his neck and was snuggled up tight as can be against him. I really like our brief time together in the morning - its the one time that Ripple is alone with me. We have been going to the park for her to run faithfully every night. The cold snow actually cut her paws two nights ago. It was awful - initially I thought it was because I had clipped her nails and nicked her. There was less the next night, and last night there was none. She didn't seem in pain, so we are assuming it was a natural process and now her paws might be tougher. They were tiny cuts, not on the pads, but between the pads and the nails.

I'm all for strong women. God bless us. But, there are times when I am happy to let S be the manager. Mostly in the arena of fear. When I am afraid of something - noises, bugs, Ripple's paws bleeding, its such a relief to just turn the fear over to him and let him be the strong, ratioanl one. I am in charge of myself about 90% of the time - I am very thankful for the 10% I can share with someone who loves me and wants to help. And I know that he feels the same way with me. Gentle, precious love is something I am very thankful for.

Board meeting tonight, so I can't work out. Well, I am choosing to not work out when I get home at 9pm after a day starting at 6:30am. But that is a choice I'm comfortable with.