I had an early Saturday visit with Grace, due to commitments we both had for the rest of the day. Before I went to visit with her I stopped at the store to pick up a couple shades of pink and red lip sticks that she text me the night before that she wanted. As I did this task for my little friend, I wondered if all these girly girl errands had me run for her in the past month or so was her trying to prepare me for a taste of my life to come once I have met the girl that I would actually think enough of to do these things. Right there and then I pinky swore to myself that this is not something I would ever experience again. Way too many shades of pink and red for me.
Grace was just finishing up her cards for my two tot classes, thanking them for the nice cards they had made for her and for inviting her to be part of their class recently. She had made one card for each class, lots of color, glitter, and smiley faces. There was a third envelope that Grace handed me when she handed me the other two cards. "This is for Carlos", she said, "please makes sure you give it to him and give him a hug from me." I assured Grace I would get it delivered first thing on Monday.
We only had half and hour this morning, and we both hoped our schedules would line up together again for a small visit this evening. I know it is important to not push Grace and make sure she understood her rest was very important to her at this point. Any sign of fatigue could allow illness to set into her system, causing her already compromised system to get weaker quickly and harder to recover from.
This weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, was the weekend most of Grace's small family would be visiting with her, saying their goodbyes. It had already been decided that there would be no service for Grace, outside her parents and a few of those closest to her. This past week saw the plans being finalized regarding Grace wanting to be a donor, so others may live a longer healthy life. She would donate anything they would be able to use towards others quality of life, and she wanted her brain to be donated to science for research. It is something Grace talked to me about several times in the past two months and I knew it was important to her to help as many others as she could. I had asked her how she came to know about being a donor, that with her so young, who gave her the information that she needed to get the ball rolling. "When I was at the cancer center for my very first treatment there was a boy there who told me he was going to go to college someday and study to be a scientist and someday he was going to find a cure for cancer. He got to get better from his cancer and he showed me his driving license and it told on there he was a donor. So I asked him what that meant and he told me. So I decided I would like to do that for others too." I remember thinking that I should check into this as well, after all, if this little girl could be mature enough to get the facts, I should too.
I would not see Grace again until last Sunday evening. She had text me that she had visited with everyone she wanted to in her family and I could come over and bring her a treat. I was beginning to wonder if she had the cell number of the ice cream truck would she have text that dude instead of me. Makes me smile, because most girls in my life entice me to come over to visit offering me food, but not this little girl, she was enticing me to come visit and bring her food. It worked every time though. I'm pretty sure the oval stick shape figure she drew of me had a lot to do with the weight I have had to of put on with all these treats floating around. I went with the old standby DQ menu and took a bag of chocolate, cherry, and butterscotch Dilly Bars over to her house.
Grace thought they were a bag full of yums and she love love loved the cherry ones. "Oh what a delicious Sunday night treat boyfriend." I could not of agreed more. I only stuck around for half an hour, which I would take every second I could get with my little buddy. The four of us sat in their kitchen eating our treats and casual talking about their weekend. Grace always had the center stage and she went on and on about what relatives were over. I enjoyed hearing her excitement as she talked about her visitors. I have to admit, it made me a bit angry with them when she told me how little they did not come around once they found out she would never get better. She really did not seem to hold grudges or display bitterness about it at all. I quietly thought about how I would work on that, because in the end, it would hurt no one but myself.
"We have 15 new followers on our blog now Jett", Grace would say proudly, "that is a lot more that I got to read about us." I told Grace that was nice that she continues to share our story with others. What I really thought was how I have tried so hard to make sure everyone knows this is not about me, this is about Grace. I had to shake my head because just like she would turn my interviews with her back on me, she now has made her story "our" story. "Jett, I have a question for you", she announced. Go on I told her, ask. "Are you from Tennessee?" I looked at her and her parents like an alien had just spoke to me. They both smile and shake their heads. "No Grace, why do you ask?" Grace smiled big, let out a little giggle then said, "Well, you are the only TEN I SEE." I could not even force myself to roll me eyes at her. She reminded me of Little Dude, who can knock knock you to sleep with his jokes. "My daddy said that to my mommy today. After he told me what it means I thought it was cute cute cute", she said. Her poor mommy turned the shade of the red lipstick I had brought to Gracie yesterday.
I could see Grace was tired, she had a very busy weekend with family, and I told her I was a bit tired to and I had some things I had to get done before I could even climb in my bed. She announced to me that her and her daddy were going to watch Footloose, the good one. I looked at her dad and said, "Sorry dude, but at least its Footloose, I bet I've watched How to Train A Dragon a million times and counting." He gave me that 'it's ok, someday I'll repay you for that movie' look.
I said goodbye to this little family of friends of mine with instructions from Grace to not forgot to take my cards to my classes and do not forget about Carlos. She told me to not forgot to come see her tomorrow and bring my guitar and that tomorrow I would get "our" IPOD back, she was done with it now. A kiss, a hug, a pinky swear, and a goodbye and I was on my way home, sure Grace would be out before the movie got a good start to it. I would be wrong. I pulled into our garage and heard my cell beep. "You do get my joke right? It was funnier than the amount you laughed." That text made me laugh harder than any joke she could possibly tell me. I text her back "I got it dude. Goodnight"
Grace was just finishing up her cards for my two tot classes, thanking them for the nice cards they had made for her and for inviting her to be part of their class recently. She had made one card for each class, lots of color, glitter, and smiley faces. There was a third envelope that Grace handed me when she handed me the other two cards. "This is for Carlos", she said, "please makes sure you give it to him and give him a hug from me." I assured Grace I would get it delivered first thing on Monday.
We only had half and hour this morning, and we both hoped our schedules would line up together again for a small visit this evening. I know it is important to not push Grace and make sure she understood her rest was very important to her at this point. Any sign of fatigue could allow illness to set into her system, causing her already compromised system to get weaker quickly and harder to recover from.
This weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, was the weekend most of Grace's small family would be visiting with her, saying their goodbyes. It had already been decided that there would be no service for Grace, outside her parents and a few of those closest to her. This past week saw the plans being finalized regarding Grace wanting to be a donor, so others may live a longer healthy life. She would donate anything they would be able to use towards others quality of life, and she wanted her brain to be donated to science for research. It is something Grace talked to me about several times in the past two months and I knew it was important to her to help as many others as she could. I had asked her how she came to know about being a donor, that with her so young, who gave her the information that she needed to get the ball rolling. "When I was at the cancer center for my very first treatment there was a boy there who told me he was going to go to college someday and study to be a scientist and someday he was going to find a cure for cancer. He got to get better from his cancer and he showed me his driving license and it told on there he was a donor. So I asked him what that meant and he told me. So I decided I would like to do that for others too." I remember thinking that I should check into this as well, after all, if this little girl could be mature enough to get the facts, I should too.
I would not see Grace again until last Sunday evening. She had text me that she had visited with everyone she wanted to in her family and I could come over and bring her a treat. I was beginning to wonder if she had the cell number of the ice cream truck would she have text that dude instead of me. Makes me smile, because most girls in my life entice me to come over to visit offering me food, but not this little girl, she was enticing me to come visit and bring her food. It worked every time though. I'm pretty sure the oval stick shape figure she drew of me had a lot to do with the weight I have had to of put on with all these treats floating around. I went with the old standby DQ menu and took a bag of chocolate, cherry, and butterscotch Dilly Bars over to her house.
Grace thought they were a bag full of yums and she love love loved the cherry ones. "Oh what a delicious Sunday night treat boyfriend." I could not of agreed more. I only stuck around for half an hour, which I would take every second I could get with my little buddy. The four of us sat in their kitchen eating our treats and casual talking about their weekend. Grace always had the center stage and she went on and on about what relatives were over. I enjoyed hearing her excitement as she talked about her visitors. I have to admit, it made me a bit angry with them when she told me how little they did not come around once they found out she would never get better. She really did not seem to hold grudges or display bitterness about it at all. I quietly thought about how I would work on that, because in the end, it would hurt no one but myself.
"We have 15 new followers on our blog now Jett", Grace would say proudly, "that is a lot more that I got to read about us." I told Grace that was nice that she continues to share our story with others. What I really thought was how I have tried so hard to make sure everyone knows this is not about me, this is about Grace. I had to shake my head because just like she would turn my interviews with her back on me, she now has made her story "our" story. "Jett, I have a question for you", she announced. Go on I told her, ask. "Are you from Tennessee?" I looked at her and her parents like an alien had just spoke to me. They both smile and shake their heads. "No Grace, why do you ask?" Grace smiled big, let out a little giggle then said, "Well, you are the only TEN I SEE." I could not even force myself to roll me eyes at her. She reminded me of Little Dude, who can knock knock you to sleep with his jokes. "My daddy said that to my mommy today. After he told me what it means I thought it was cute cute cute", she said. Her poor mommy turned the shade of the red lipstick I had brought to Gracie yesterday.
I could see Grace was tired, she had a very busy weekend with family, and I told her I was a bit tired to and I had some things I had to get done before I could even climb in my bed. She announced to me that her and her daddy were going to watch Footloose, the good one. I looked at her dad and said, "Sorry dude, but at least its Footloose, I bet I've watched How to Train A Dragon a million times and counting." He gave me that 'it's ok, someday I'll repay you for that movie' look.
I said goodbye to this little family of friends of mine with instructions from Grace to not forgot to take my cards to my classes and do not forget about Carlos. She told me to not forgot to come see her tomorrow and bring my guitar and that tomorrow I would get "our" IPOD back, she was done with it now. A kiss, a hug, a pinky swear, and a goodbye and I was on my way home, sure Grace would be out before the movie got a good start to it. I would be wrong. I pulled into our garage and heard my cell beep. "You do get my joke right? It was funnier than the amount you laughed." That text made me laugh harder than any joke she could possibly tell me. I text her back "I got it dude. Goodnight"
