They Said Florida Would Be Hot
Often, when we shared we would be traveling to Florida in July, people looked at us like we had three heads. They couldn’t understand why anyone would want to be in the Florida summer sweatbox.
I thought to myself, families experiencing cancer don’t get to choose the season of their trips.
Believe it or not, Florida is open 365 days a year.
To be frank, when we arrived home from Florida on that July summer day the weather in Michigan: a whopping sixty degrees and raining. So ha. Who wants to turn on the furnace in July?
Florida represented big things for my family. Years ago we finished paying $10,000 in medical bills for my son’s birth. My sister had just moved to Florida, so my husband and I agreed to save up money towards taking a family trip to visit her and my brother-in-law. We decided anytime we wanted to go off budget we would declare “grapefruit.” That it wasn’t worth going over budget in our day to day because we wanted to get to Florida.
Florida grapefruit ripens during that lovely biased season, spring.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I had a six day window to enjoy a trip with my family. While the budget for the trip didn’t matter because cancer has a way of encouraging priorities, I couldn’t wrap my head around getting all the way to Florida. I didn’t want to spend more time driving to Florida than quality time in Florida. My husband and I decided on Gatlinburg, Tennessee to make the most of our time together, pre-chemotherapy as a family.
But Florida. But Grapefruit.
I just wanted to see my sister and the life she was building with her husband and son. After my first installment of chemotherapy, I considered flying solo to see them, but that didn’t make sense as my pain reappeared and intensified. Doctor appointments outweighed the luxury of traveling. Surely, I thought I’d go that upcoming spring during grapefruit season, but enter a February stem cell transplant.
Even more of a reason to travel, and cherish family time, but isolation and stem cell protocol wouldn’t welcome leaving a bubble for quite some time.
The grapefruit may have been done for the year, but the fun was just beginning. Just over 4 months following my stem cell transplant we drove to Florida.
It was hot.
It was fun.
It was a slow going kind of trip.
Once we got to Florida, we didn’t drive all over creation. We didn’t even set morning alarms. For not having a busy trip, all the swimming and sun knocked us out. Tim and I didn’t even have a chance to play cards after the kids went to bed. We simply rested as much as we could.
Summer update: Woah! It was a busy July. We have 3 weeks left until the girls start at their new school. We’ve pumped the brakes on potty training a kiddo that has no interest.
We are looking forward to a slow August, slower than July that is.
