I was able to download the photos from our trip to Naples to the computer last night, but didn't have a chance to post them to the blog -- so don't you worry, those photos are on their way! In the meantime, I just wanted to share a little story with those of you who take the time to follow the lives of Jaime, Jody and Shae...
I was Bad Attitude Betty for most of the day yesterday (Tuesday). Monday had been a very long day of travel home from Naples for our little family -- we flew in and out of Miami, so we drove across Highway 41 (Alligator Alley) from Naples, which took significantly longer than we had planned. If you are at all familiar with the Miami airport, you will empathize with our frustrating attempts to find the rental car return office. On top of that, the literal
moment we set foot on the plane Shae started SCREAMING (not crying... SCREAMING), which put both me and Jody on edge. She eventually fell asleep for most of the flight, but it's still exhausting to hold/rock her to ensure her sleep so as to avoid the glares and grumbles from fellow passengers. We finally arrived home at a little after 10 p.m. on Monday night, gave Shae a quick bath and put her to bed, confident that she would sleep through the night since she was
so tired from our day of travel... only to discover that she had something else in mind: she woke up at 2, 3, 4, 4:30, 5:15 and 7. I was tired, cranky and entirely out of sorts for much of the day at work.
After work I was scheduled to go sit with my friend, Patti Brown, from 6:15-9:00 last night. I was NOT happy about that situation and made it passively-aggressively clear to anyone who would listen. For those readers who don't know Patti, she is a co-worker of mine who is currently battling brain cancer. Yeah, I was b*tching about being tired when my dear friend is battling JoJo the Tumor (her name for it) in her brain... I think you can see where I'm going with this. I hauled my butt down to Patti's house (without Shae -- that little pelican needed to sleep!) and left my attitude at the door, as I knew it wasn't fair to Patti to let her know how surly I was feeling.
Immediately upon entering the house, I realized what a jerk I had been all day. Patti was absolutely glowing. After having gone through her first round of chemo and radiation for six weeks, she is on her first of four weeks off treatment. She feels great -- her nausea is practically gone, her skin isn't as tender, her incisions are healing. Her hair is almost gone, but she adores the hats she's wearing. And she shared with me a story about what a wonderful day she had enjoyed with her husband, Graylon, when they went to not one but
two grocery stores and she was able to walk through both, rather than ride in a cart. She shared how excited she is to go home to Georgia in a couple weeks to see her family. And she shared story after story about her wonderful family and how proud she is of each and every one of them.
Yeah, I'm still tired today, but I am so incredibly grateful that I got to share an evening with Patti Brown last night. She is an inspiration. Whether you do or do not know Patti personally, I'm asking a favor of you to include her in any future conversations you have with God, as she needs all the help she can get and deserves every bit of it.
Sorry for the long post... Shae photos coming later tonight!
Third: jumperoo! We bought Shae a playcenter jumperoo and she LOVES it! So many toys to play with and friends to look at... and she's upright with her feets on the ground. It took a little while for her to figure out that when she pushes off on the ground the whole thing bounces, but once she did she had a blast!
