Meeting More Family

When I heard the news about Jarod being sick I felt like I needed to get out there right away and just be with my family during this hard time. I booked my ticket and headed out the next week which was last weekend. I was so excited to take Kenleigh to meet her Grandpa, Uncle Jarod, & Aunt Lindsey for the first time. I’m terrified of flying and new it would be even worse with Kenleigh. Luckily she really did distract me and it wasn’t so bad! We flew in on Saturday and went straight to Jarod and Lindsey’s for dinner. It was really good to hang out and spend time with everyone. It made it a little better and a little worse for me to see Jarod. Just knowing what he’s going through (not really knowing but imagining) breaks my heart. I really had to hold back the tears. It did help though to see that he’s the same old Jarod. If anything, this reminds me how close we were in high school and we won’t ever lose that bond we had. Before Zach Jarod was my best friend. Sunday we hung out at my parents for a while in the morning and then drove back in to Atlanta to spend a few hours with Jarod and Lindsey again. Our friend from high school Aisha brought everyone lunch. It was wonderful to see her. I try to see her every time I make it out to Atlanta. It isn’t enough but it’s a good start. Thanks Ish, for lunch! We found out that day that Kenleigh apparently is a dog lover. It took both Kenleigh and Jarod’s dog Georgia to warm up to each other but when they did it was so sweet. Monday my mom went with Jarod, Lindsey, and Lindsey’s mom, Janice to some of Jarod’s doctors’ appointments. They went really well and they were able to get a good idea of what’s ahead. Dad’s work got rained out so it was a good time for him and me to spend some time together. We never really get to do that. Dad always thinks I’m there for mom so he just hangs out while we do all our bonding. We talked for a long time and I have to say it was pretty nice. I mean I could have done without most of it but some was nice…well not necessarily some but… Yeah, I missed mama! Ha ha, just kidding daddio! Monday night I had just put Kenleigh to bed and we decided we wanted some ice cream from Dairy Queen (this will be a theme in all my blog posts after leaving Georgia). I put dad in charge of Kenleigh while mama and I went for ice cream. I tried to give him direction in case Kenleigh woke up before we returned. He said he wanted none of it. Okay then, if you say so. We got home and dad had Kenleigh downstairs in as much light as possible completely un-swaddled and she loved it. I on the other hand about lost it. All that work to get her to sleep and he probably just needed to throw the binki in her mouth and she would have been right back to bed. I really was happy to see that they got their moment actually. She really loves her grandpa! He really loves her too. Tuesday we woke up and headed right over to Jarod’s to see him one last time before my flight left. It was really hard to say goodbye. I really miss being out there but my home is here and I’ve gotten rather used to it. We then went to lunch and headed back to the airport. I was happy to be heading home because Kenleigh and I really missed Zach so the goodbyes were bitter sweet. Hopefully we’ll get to make it back out there before the year passes us by!