Day Eight

Yesterday evening and this morning were fantastic. Around five o'clock Saturday evening, I had another boost of energy, very similar to the one I had Monday afternoon, after taking the day off work and recuperating on the couch all morning. I did all of the laundry in the house, (including my cel phone, in the pocket of my jeans) polished off the dishes (comprised solely of coffee cups, cat food dishes and glasses) and cleaned up the living room, then sat down for a game of chess with Autumn. I was sharp both mentally and physically, although the effect was more passing than it was the first time I experienced it. I wonder if the influx of energy was due to the fast, or my spending the entire afternoon playing Final Fantasy. Come to think of it, that's what I did all morning on Monday, too, immediately preceding my rash of activity. Maybe the game is to thank, and this whole fast has been based off of coincidence.

Today, I've felt astonishingly good. Although I woke up with a crick in my neck, it was at an unusually early 8:30 in the morning and I was ready to immediately start my day. By ten, when I'm usually still rolling around in bed, I'd cleaned my desk, taken a shower, got dressed and watched half of an old UFC DVD while waiting for Autumn to catch up with some work. We'd gone out in search of an architectural salvage joint, (which was closed) visited Lowe's and returned to the house before noon. That's only happened once or twice since making the move to Florida. While we were at Lowe's, I realized that my body was wholly and completely at peace with itself. I had no aches and pains, my stomach felt warm and pleasant, and my head was in the clouds. I don't think I'd call the sensation "bliss," per se, but it was definitely a nice change. It helped immensely that the weather outside was so gorgeous. It feels like a warm, breezy June afternoon in Indianapolis, the kind I remember enjoying on South Harbour Drive as a kid. January is far and away the best time of the year to live in Southwest Florida.

Autumn's struggled with the fast in the last few days. She slept through almost all of Saturday, and is obviously not feeling well. We've both lost some weight... I've dropped close to eight pounds since last Friday, while she's lost close to ten. We're almost there, though. We each have just three and a half bottles of lemonade left to ingest, then it's on the fruit juices, soups and, finally, real foods. The experiment has been very interesting and curious, but I'm ready to begin the shift back to the regular routine.