24 Hour recharge .....

When Zoey was first diagnosed,one of the most difficult parts,excluding the obvious of course,was trying to keep some normalcy amongst the chaos.We have gotten pretty good at shooting from the hip when life has thrown us a curve ball the last few years.We all tend to come together and develop a game plan and move forward.Cancer became a whole new ball game and required more of a battle plan rather than a game plan.But once again our family and friends circled the wagons and we have found our way through what,at the beginning felt insurmountable.My children never cease to astounded me with their adaptability and my husband has never,not once, lost his "the glass is half full" attitude.The big girls have sacrificed and the boys have had to learn to wait,be patient and except their lives being turned upside down,again.One might envision a family totally coming undone.Frazzled,fried and totally stressed out but honestly,we look fairly well,normal.We have not come undone rather we have become cohesive.We have bonded and we have learned that we are stronger than we ever knew.We have of course missed our together time.We miss going to church together.We miss going to the park and out to dinner together.We have missed just hanging out at home ,all together.Yes,cancer has taken some time away from us as a family but these times are just moments in the bigger picture and that bigger picture is what we have kept our eye on for the last five months.Each and everyone of us have said that we have willingly traded these moments for the lifetime of moments that await us.We do this now,we miss these family moments now,with the hope that we will have a lifetime of family moments waiting in the not so distant future.We have to hold on to that.We all have made plans for that time.That "after cancer time" but we know that we cannot miss these now moments while we wait.During round one we found that for everyone involved, it was best that Mark and I both spend an entire day,separately,home on the weekends.Friday night to early Sunday morning became my day home and it has continued that way since October.A wee bit more than 24 hours goes by really fast but we truly try and make the best of it.Today was no different.Nothing ever too exciting but just some good,easy going time together.Most Fridays,Jess is home for Team in Training.Sometimes Caitlin and Danny as well but this weekend,just the boys and Taylor and I.We stayed in our jammies till late morning.Taylor took off for work by 10:30.The boys played with their Legos and their robots and I caught up on emails and blogs.We headed for haircuts followed by a visit to a new "old time"candy and soda shop that just opened.Jake,Joe and I visited Taylor at In N Out and I reluctantly gave into the boys pleas for burgers.Anyone that knows me,knows we don't do red meat so suffice it to say this was big.Winced as they ate,not so much the boys.We filled the afternoon and waited for Taylor to get home from work and after she showered we took off to surprise Zoey and Mark at the hospital.And boy were they surprised.Zoey was so excited to see the kids.She was literally jumping out of our arms to be held by the next eagerly awaiting arms.She showed the kids her new trick:Blowing kisses.Pretty darling.Blows kisses to all who cross the threshold of her room.We just stayed a little while and then headed to The Griffith Observatory.A very cool planetarium.In Joe's words,better than Disneyland and wished he lived nearby so he could go everyday.As we were leaving Taylor and I were commenting on how packed the streets and parking lot were at almost 10:00pm and although the Observatory is spectacular we wondered why,and Joe quickly stated,"Well,because it's amazing!"The kids were sound asleep within 15 minutes.Joe passed out with what almost looked like a grin,mouthed hanging open, wearing his souvenirs:an astronaut suit.I would call the day a successful recharge.Tomorrow I head out early.I will miss my days like these with my little and big loves but more will come.Much more and because of these missed moments those moments will be all the sweeter.