March 25, 2011
It’s been spring break this week for both Tanner and Jake. Since Tanner had chemo this week, we didn’t go anywhere, but decided to make the most of our staycation by scheduling a fun activity every day.
Monday, we played in the gorgeous spring weather we were having earlier this week (not so much now!) at a playground with some friends. Tuesday, we went to the Tennessee State Museum. They were having an Egypt exhibit, and Tanner is fascinated with Egypt. Turns out, I think we enjoyed the state history even more. Tanner and I have been reading the Little House on the Prairie books, so it was fun seeing the pioneer history fleshed out at the museum. Tanner kept recognizing things like a butter churn or a yoke for oxen that we had read about in the books.
Jake totally cracked us up because he was making up a story for everything he would see, and tell it in this really serious voice.
“Let me tell you about this,” he would say. “This is boat and it’s tied up and the ropes made it not sail right.”
“Was the boat okay?” I asked.
“Nope, it sank to the very, very bottom of the water with the fish,” he said seriously.
Tanner and I started asking him about everything we saw, just to hear what he would make up.
Wednesday was clinic day, but we made plans to see a movie in the afternoon with friends. On the way home, we stopped to get gas and buy some candy for the movies (yes, I realize that’s against the rules). Unfortunately, when I tried to start up the car to go, it wouldn’t. The kids and I got out the car (in the rain of course) and walked across the street to a Firestone and got them to tow my car, and called John to pick us up. I had seriously had it at that point. But, the men at Firestone were so nice and John was, as usual, like a breath of fresh air. He cheered up the kids and resuscitated me with his infectious enthusiasm. “We’re making lemonade, people!” he yelled in the car. “I never get to see you guys in the middle of the day… I love it.” We went home to let the dog out and then dropped John off at work, still on schedule to make our movie… until Anna Lynn called to tell me it was sold out… really.
Now, I was just mad… until I started laughing. I mean, seriously, what else can you do at this point? I had worked too hard to get us to this stupid movie. Thankfully, our friends were game and we found another movie theater playing the same movie an hour later. We prevailed!!! We filled almost a whole row of the movie theater and the kids laughed out loud at the movie.
Thursday, the kids got a much-needed break from one another with separate playdates. Tanner went to a friend’s house and Jake had a friend from school over. Then, Tanner, John and I went to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Man and Woman of the Year campaign kickoff where Tanner was officially announced as Girl of the Year along with Jack Woods, Boy of the Year. They debuted the video we had shot a month or so ago. It’s a great video, although Tanner is uncharacteristically shy in it. This was taken not long before we decided that she needed medication for anxiety. You can see her in this video regressing to babyish talk; very unlike her. Just underscores for me that we made the right decision.
In contrast, last night she was working the room, full extra-large personality in play. The event last night was pretty grown up at a nice restaurant and at one point, John and missed her. We thought she was sitting at the table playing with John’s phone. Instead, we spotted her across the room, standing on a chair, talking animatedly to three men, who were laughing and talking back. Then, the photographer asked to take a picture of them. They did one serious shot and then Tanner got them to all make silly faces. John said, “Should we go ask what she was talking to them about?” I paused and said, “No, I think I’d rather not know.”
Here’s the video:
2011 LLS Boy & Girl of the Year from Nathan Thompson – Disegno Video on Vimeo.
And, today, we had big plans to see the marionette show at the downtown Nashville library. The Whitlers were meeting us there and everyone was excited. The kids were playing on computers in the library waiting for the show to start when we figured out they didn’t have a show today (something I did not see on the Website). But Ron Whitler (Tanner Time’s blog host), who is a long-time friend and from the same school of lemons as my husband, didn’t miss a beat and just said, “We’re game for whatever, let’s go to lunch.” So, we went to Margaritaville and had a great time.
So, I want to thank all the people who helped me make lemonade this week, including Tanner, who has been a trooper despite not feeling very well from steroids, and Jake, who never fails to make me laugh. I am truly blessed by the most amazing friends and family.
Love,
Beth