Well, we went to go see Hiker at the hospital yesterday. We had to rush to catch him before he left for his four hour furlough. (They've been giving him short furloughs from the hospital to go home or wherever. Usually they've been shorter.) We chatted for a good half hour, 45 minutes or so. Then as we were leaving we ran into his wife and son and chatted with her for at least another 20 minutes. (Tyker didn't talk, but at first hid his face from us. The girls coaxed him into interacting with them as they shared a common bond of being stuck having to wait on boring parents.) It was a great time despite the overshadowing circumstances. Noodles, of course, was her excellent nurse self and was able to talk medicine and psychology as well as compare notes with Hiker regarding writing letters to the editor. Me, I attempted to crack a few jokes, but I think Hiker made me laugh more than I made him. Ah, well. Better to visit and be boring than not visit at all. Anyway, Hiker and Biker are taking things one day at a time and yesterday they were having a good one. Thank you, God, for that.