YOLO!!

YOLO!!!! Do you know what that means?!?! Nope? It's okay because none of us on the Sigma Kappa Girls Weekend knew either. Apparently, by the time you reach your 10-year-friendship anniversary, you're out of touch with the coolest slang. We might not know the right acronyms, but this weekend was a reminder that, indeed, "You Only Live Once".

After the first leg of my trip, I asked the flight attendant for some assistance getting off the plane. Dragging two kiddos and a giant bag down the aisle wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped. To my dismay, the attendant responded that "she wasn't there to take care of my luggage". Whatever. I was in my happy place, and nothing was going to stop me from seeing my family and friends! 

This kiddos were as good as gold for all parts of the flights, and as promised, Molly was there to greet us at the gate when we walked off the plane! Not only was it awesome to catch up with her since it had been a year since we last saw each other, I realized that she saved a significant portion of my sanity by being there to help. By the time we made it to my parents' house, we didn't even need a nap and were ready to play.

Grandma Malone and Auntie Theresa were ready to play with Luke and snuggle with Baby Claire, and the two kiddos enjoyed being spoiled rotten for the entire weekend. Once everyone was settled, it was time for momma to party!! Well, I say "party" in theory because not only did we discover that we no longer know the latest slang, staying up late isn't exactly in our repertoire either. Despite the evident shift, nothing beats a weekend with the girls. We hit up our old stomping grounds, drank our favorite drinks, and enjoyed Wheel pizza. Most importantly, we laughed.

 Over the past ten years, we have been through everything together. From dating and meeting our husbands to fertility issues to sick kids and spouses to the deaths of parents and siblings to having babies, we've celebrated milestones and limped along and picked each other up when the going got tough. This weekend was no different, but for the first time, our kiddos were old enough to play with each other! It's a very surreal feeling when you're walking through your old sorority house with your old room mates and you have five kiddos with you and one friend about to have another baby in a few weeks!

After a weekend away, we're all ready to face the world again. Uncle Mike met us at the airport to help us along, our flight was uneventful, and we were home with dinner done, bags unpacked, laundry folded, and all in bed by 9 p.m. This was a good practice trip because our next one is in 24 days when we leave for HAWAII!!! After analyzing our situation, talking to Claire's doctors and Luke's therapists, making arrangements with my work and the kids' daycare, we have decided to head out for our trip earlier than originally planned.

Apparently, the news of this change has made Claire very happy. I don't know if it is the excitement of leaving for Hawaii, the power of prayer, or her new seizure medicine, but we are definitely seeing improvements in Claire. Over the past few days, I had been thinking Claire seemed a bit more attentive; however, I'm prone to over-analyzing (shocking, right). Today at therapy the first thing Claire's therapist commented on was how attentive she was!! We're getting a lot more smiles and a lot less tears, so please keep the prayers coming. Doctors still don't have any results for us, but at least we have a trip to get ready for.

In response to all of your kind e-mails, texts, cards, meals, bottles of wine, etc., thank you. This month has been emotionally rough. Poor Claire has been through a lot, and the logistics of rearranging our lives has been daunting, but the words of support have made it seem more manageable. Patrick thanks you as well because he is receiving far fewer phone calls from his emotionally distraught wife :)

"A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows 

you are slightly cracked."