Two Visits

I'm ashamed that this is such a late post. . .


Since Dave's school is now on a year-round schedule, the end of September brought our first long break.  Two weeks!  We decided to take a trip up to Canada to see some of Dave's family.  We stopped in DC on the way up to take an overnight break from the long drive and, as we do any time we travel, we thought about contacting a few friends we've made on this Trisomy 18 journey.  


I've created a map (not been great on following through with it) that shows where children with Trisomy 18 live.  I made it for this reason:  so we could have a visual of where these children and their families live.  In the event we were traveling, we could contact these parents and see about meeting up.


Looking at the map, I was thrilled to see that my friend Sara, Alice's mom, lived close enough to the interstate we would be taking to get to Canada from DC.  I called and arranged to meet her.  Even though I wanted to do this more than anything, this was hard to do.  Alice passed away in May, and I didn't know how Sara would feel about seeing us.  The whole way there, I kept thinking how much I wished we had taken this trip a year prior.  It broke my heart knowing that we were too late.  I miss Alice and wish more than anything that she and Lily could have met each other.  Visiting Sara was such an honor, and as it always is when we meet Trisomy 18 parents, so good for my heart.


On the way home from Canada, we stopped in DC again for a break, and this time, we were able to meet Jenny and her daughter, Julia.  Julia had just turned 10 months, and to see her sweet, little self took me back to when Lily was such a tiny thing.  And Julia is such a fighter!  Jenny, Dave, and I shared our journeys while Gabriel and Jenny's son, Isaac, played, and again, it was such an honor.  Such a lovely family!  It was another visit so good for my heart.

Two journeys.  Too different, yet the same.  How thankful am I that we were able to stop and take the time to visit on this Trisomy 18 journey.  I just wish we had been able to do it a little sooner.