Some of the highlights: Find the nearest playground and ice cream shop. Oh yeah, and enjoy the soap box derby too.
Next, find an even bigger playground. I have to say, well done Tullahoma, the Imagination Station was fantastic.
Then, find a swimming pool (or two) and go swimming!
There was also a pit stop in Shelbyville for a bit of sightseeing and antiquing.
And then, after that, find a cool Hands On Science Center and have fun while it pours rain outside.
It was a lot of fun, if you just look at the pictures. But I'm dodging the truth. We didn't just come for a visit. We came to pick up my mom from a cancer treatment center in Knoxville after a week of radiation therapy following a partial mastectomy.
My mom is my hero. She went through the whole week of radiation therapy alone. And while I'm the worst daughter in the world for not being there during that week, my mom said it worked out just fine for her.
The cancer center gave her a small apartment within a block of the hospital, where she walked to and from treatments twice a day for a week. Only a week, I told myself, trying to justify not being there. Those reasons seem so insignificant now--the last week of school was so late after all those snow days; how will my mother be able to rest if I'm there with two children making noise and chaos all the time; how will we all fit in a tiny one bedroom apartment--would we even be allowed there with her? She was fine she said. She only got a little dizzy on the last day, and was able to nap in the apartment before her last treatment. The center staff checked on her daily, and I called her every day to see how she was feeling, ready to jump in the car and drive the 6 hours to Knoxville if she needed me. She was fine.
When we picked her up, it was almost as if she had just rented a little vacation place for a week. Clint drove her car while I drove my mom and the kids the 3 1/2 hours from Knoxville back to Tullahoma, where it felt a little more normal, if there was such a thing. And, in the midst of parks and swimming and shopping, I checked on her incisions, and put lotion on her feet, and cooked meals, and listened. And after a few days the tension subsided, and we all began to feel like it was just a family visit.
She has a follow up visit with the doctor to determine whether she has to undergo chemotherapy. For now, I'm thankful she's herself, she's home, and she's the strongest woman I know.
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