Mel & Terri's visit

My blog on the last few weeks isn’t going to be super long. I think I will touch on the highlights, leave the other details to my terrific friends that visited.
Zoe, Sydney and I picked up Terri around noon on Thursday at the Jax. Airport. We headed home, stopping at Taco Bell for lunch. We relaxed around the pool that evening, sipping wine. We cooked blackened Mahi, baby red mashed potatoes w/ rosemary & garlic, and a salad. Then we played games! My son, Dalton, and his lovely wife, Donna were here now also. We had a very fun night!
Next day, Terri, Dalton, Donna, Zoe and myself went to the airport to pickup Mel and Jazz. Everything went very smoothly for them, thank God!
After all were settled in their bedrooms, kind of unpacked, we all relaxed. We had grilled cheeseburgers with all the sides. After 9 at night around my house is considered “adult” time….the humor, jokes and language all change a bit. It became the running thing that we couldn’t say “that” yet….it wasn’t after 9. My oldest daughter, Tara, and her bo, Cecil arrived also. Soooo….we had everyone here! 14 people!! Except for my 17 year old son, Caleb, who is away at Army camp. This first night of everyone together was hilarious. The laughter, games, and drinks flowed until WAAAYYYY too late. Somehow, my son made a comment to his wife that started a laughing episode that lasted for I swear an hour. Our faces, guts, and throats all hurt the next morning because we all had laughed so hard. Ok, guess I’ll have to tell you the comment…..they have nicknamed their small poodle ‘the bush’, because she is so fluffy. Well, she was sitting in my son’s lap, under the table, he looked at his wife, Donna, and said, looking down at his lap, “How do you like my bush??” Tara heard this and about died…..she ???? him about it, then it became known to the whole group at the table about the “bush”. I swear, I have never laughed so much. I don’t think anyone else had either.
Much coffee was needed the next morning. Thank goodness, everyone slept in. Saturday was a day by the pool, cooking alfredo for dinner, then playing another game at night again.
Sunday was bowling for all! That was quite fun also! We had to have 3 lanes. Poor Terri, for some reason, her ball kept getting stuck in the back…she was always standing at the ball holder…waiting for her ball!!! It was a blast though!
Then we headed to our little Mexican rest. For dinner….all 14 of us! It was awesome company, food and margarita’s! Home to get kiddo down……then one more night of board games! Whew! It was so much fun….but I do believe we all were getting tired!
Monday we took Terri to the airport to say our goodbyes. We sure missed her after that….she brings a smile to my face constantly…love you Terri!
Things settled down a bit after Terri, Dalton, Donna, Tara and Cecil all left on Tuesday. We got into a more relaxed, quieter routine. Mel and the kids had a Monopoly game set up for 3 days that they kept going back to. Mel and I sat outside every morning in the lounge chairs sipping French vanilla coffee, quietly chatting and enjoying the outdoors.
Treatments were done in the mornings, Mel in her room, Zoe in hers. I gave Mel a book to read while she was here, considering we don’t have t.v…..it was called “The Smoke Jumper”…she loved it, finished it while here! The kids all got along wonderfully! Jazz, Madison and Alex bonded very easily.
Jazz got to go out on the river in our canoe with Scott and Alex, she caught a shark! She had a terrific time!
We went to the beach one day, just for a couple of hours. It was perfect. Mel stood in the water up to her shins, looked at me and said, “This is intoxicating.” Perfect. Just what I wanted, her to love it.
We rented a golf cart in little ole downtown St. Marys, rode around in it for 4 hours. That was quite an experience. Strange, riding around in town with an open air vehicle, that makes no noise (it was battery operated). Fun!!!
Friday night was date night….for Scott and his 2 ladies…Mel and myself! We introduced Mel to drinking Captain Morgan with ginger ale in gas station coffee cups…..while on our way into Jacksonville….then we introduced her to a true southern tradition….HOT NOW doughnuts at Krispy Kreme! Headed to one of my favorite, cheap things to do on a date……the card section at a large book store. We stood there for about an hour, reading, laughing, singing, you name it….I think Books A Million was very happy when we finally left!
We then went to Bonefish Grill, the rest. That supports CFF all the time, everyone there loves Zoe, they treat us like royalty. There was a hour wait when we got there, but they seat us right away! And they almost never let us pay our bill….they are the sweetest, kindest people, we truly love them!
I think the next few days, we relaxed, swam, laid in the sun, read books, cooked, talked a ton, what a vacation should be!!!
The kids had built tents covering the game room , we dubbed it “tent city”. Alex, Madison, Sydney and Jazz slept in it for several nights! The last night before they left, Mel and I sat up, had a few glasses of wine, and finally had a good night of girl talk! The kids were playing truth or dare….coming out to us often with their ‘dare’….it was quite funny!
This was a couple of weeks in my life that I will never forget. There was much laughter and tears. The day that Mel lost Ellie, was a hard day for us. I’m glad she was here and not alone. CF in all its reality. We cried for Ellie, for Mel, for Zoe, for all of you that have CF in your life....


I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Take care!