Today was one of those winter days in Texas when the temperature hit eighty degrees and I sat out on the back porch with my bare feet soaking up the sunlight. It was enough to make me feel like it’s springtime which will make it only that much more cruel when the rain and cold come back in by tomorrow night.
The good news is we’re finally getting back to normal here. Caroline is officially over the flu and even Mabel got her stitches out yesterday and is back to voraciously patrolling the backyard to defend us from men with beards and hats.
But the biggest thing going on over the last few days was a little road trip Gulley and I made to Dallas to see Jen. We’d been trying to figure out a time to go ever since we found out her cancer was back in early December, but wanted to wait until she’d settled into her new treatment schedule. And so we’d been going back and forth with possible dates until she finally just texted and asked, “What about this coming Monday?”
SOLD.
We left San Antonio at 11:00 on Sunday morning. Our original plan was 10:30 but I stopped at Starbucks for coffee and had a barista who apparently flew to Columbia to get the beans to make my latte and that delayed our departure. Gulley loaded her stuff in my car as soon as I pulled up and we hit the open road to Dallas. It’s about a four and a half hour trip and I will tell you there wasn’t even one moment of silence for the entirety of our time in the car. We hadn’t had much time to talk during the week since I was running a home for sick children and dogs and so we had all manner of topics to cover, including that I decided I couldn’t watch this season of The Bachelor when I saw the beginning of the episode when he put on a hoodie without a shirt on under it. That’s not a real outfit.
True to our road trip ways, we stopped in Waco for Popeye’s chicken and I’m sad to report that Chip and Joanna Gaines were not there. I secretly hoped maybe Popeye’s was their after church dining spot, but I guess not. So we got back on the road with our chicken and continued on our way to Dallas.
As soon as we got there we headed straight to Jen’s house and spent some time with her before we met a group of friends for dinner.
We had the best time and laughed and caught up on life until we realized it was almost 10:00 and none of us are used to being out that late these days, plus we had to be up early the next morning for Jen’s day at the hospital.
Mondays are her treatment days which is why we chose to make the trip when we did. Especially when Jen spoke my love language and told me that this particular Monday was going to be one of the more interesting medical days because they were going to run a lot of different tests throughout the day. She’s part of a clinical study and so her treatment days aren’t always the same depending on what information they need to gather, but they are always long – usually beginning by 8:00 a.m. and lasting until 5:30 or 6:00.
Our friend Jamie met Gulley and I at Starbucks and then we drove to the hospital to meet Jen. She was getting an initial blood draw but then they eventually moved us into what her nurse referred to as our own private “party room”. It seriously oversold what was basically a small patient room, but we were so thankful to have our own little place to set up camp with all our snacks and drinks where we could spend the day.
And that’s what we did. We laughed and told stories and solved problems and had ourselves a complete therapy session before the day was over. And there were moments I’d almost forget why we were there until the nurse came in to do a blood draw or Jen’s oncologist came in and handed her a “Cancer Sucks” pin to wear. That part? The part where we were all sitting in an oncology ward in a hospital? Does not compute.
But the thing about being with dear friends is you can have fun just about anywhere. This was never more evident than when Jen’s nurse had to come in and tell us we all needed to be a little quieter because we were laughing and talking too loud. It just goes to show some things don’t change even when one of you has cancer.
Over the course of the day Jamie’s sister Jennifer and her daughter stopped by to check on Jen and our friend Hite brought us lunch. Then Jen’s friend C brought Lincoln up to visit his mama. And he got us all so tickled when he informed us he didn’t like Jesus because he has bad hair. Gulley suggested maybe Jen needs to find a picture of a better coiffed Jesus to show him in the future since it’s clear the one he’s seen might present a Jesus in need of a hairbrush.
It was a short trip but we packed it full of so many sweet memories and good laughs and the reminder that nothing makes you realize what’s truly important in life than being with the friends that you’ve known and loved for decades.