.... You'll NEVER Feel Sad or Lonely! They say people come into your life for a Reason, a Season or a Lifetime, but I'd like to add Forever to that statement. This post is dedicated to my Forevers! You know who you are! 💓 I will love you all Forever!
Most people are lucky if they have one or two Forever best friends; And I know that I have at least 5, if not a few more than that! But I have been BFF's with this particular group of beautiful amazing smart sexy women for at least 40 years. We are truly blessed to have each other! And our Fabulous Five Oh trip was the biggest blessing that not only I needed, but I feel like in everyone's own ways all needed this trip badly. We were talking one evening and all of us said it should not have taken one of us getting a terminal diagnosis to have made this trip happen. But as everyone knows, life gets in the way and before you know it we're all fifty and STILL fabulous. Terminal or not I am so happy we got to take this trip. I love you ladies.... Forever!
I started out my trip last Wednesday morning on a shuttle to St. Louis to catch my airplane into Tampa. I have never traveled alone, so was a little nervous, but I knew it was going to be great when the bus driver started playing the Eagles live during our drive. Ironically the last time I traveled was a girls trip to Vegas in October 2019 to see the Eagles live in concert. I never ever take a shuttle, but mom was a little worried about me driving alone to St. Louis, since my chemo has caused some dizzy spells lately. So I relented and took the bus. And that music was my way of knowing this was what I was supposed to do.
Had an easy great ride to the airport and an easy flight as well. My driver was waiting for me in Tampa to take me to, what I could only describe as a mansion on the beach. We pulled up and I was in awe before I could even get into the giant house! One of my wonderful friends, Tara, had found us this house and booked it for us. As I went inside and explored the three levels of pure beauty, I thought I might be in a dream. I have never been in a house like this, let alone stay in one for 5 days! It had 3 levels with a freakin elevator ya'll. Craziness! Each of us had our own bedroom, bathroom, and balcony and the bottom level was a giant pool and hot tub and patio. At one point while exploring I thought I must be dreaming, for reals! I arrived about 6 hours before the rest of the gang, so I changed out of my Missouri clothes and into my Treasure Island clothes and down the beach I went for my daily walk and then grabbed some dinner at my favorite beach restaurant, Caddys. Then back to the "mansion" for a little Netflix and down time before the girls arrived. I was pretty wiped out from the all day travel session. The girls made it in around 11 and we stayed up talking until 2 a.m. Something I haven't done in YEARS!! Then off to bed where I left my balcony door open so I could hear the sounds of the ocean all night long. Best sleep I've had in at least 3 years or more! There is absolutely nothing more soothing than sleeping to that sound, in my opinion.
Day number two started off with a short walk to breakfast and a walk on the beach. My typical Treasure Island routine. Then headed out for our Tiki Bar water tour. Another thoughtful gift by a new friend on the island. We loaded up the vessel and headed out into the bay. We saw an amazing display of dolphins dancing right around our boat. It was magical and beautiful. Had a great lunch at a cool brewery and the rest of the day/night we just sat around our pool and hot tub telling stories, gossiping and just getting caught up on each other's lives. It had been so long since we had all taken time out of our busy schedules to do this and I truly believe we all needed this trip badly!
Day three was more of the same; breakfast and beach walk in the morning and talking and gossiping around the pool in the afternoon. I had a huge surprise for the girls for this night. I hired a professional photographer to do a sunset photo shoot for us to always remember this trip. We all got dressed up and headed out for a nice fancy seafood dinner, which was delicious. We then met our guy for our photo shoot. There are no words to describe how fun it was. We laughed and hugged and maybe shed few tears. I cannot wait to get the final copies, as I know they are going to be something to be cherished forever by all of us. As we were coming to the end of our shoot something so exciting happened; two manatees came up near the shore and were "getting it on" during our photo shoot. Our photographer went out into the water waist deep and began shooting the giant creatures and the end results were some beautiful photos of these animals with the pink sky in the background. He said he had never seen anything like that before and I think he was as excited as we all were to witness such beauty. Definitely a divine intervention. I think God put them there for a reason, for us to see the beauty in everything around us. The most ironic thing about this moment was that an hour before the photo shoot began it looked like clouds were rolling in and it might rain. He called me and asked if we wanted to cancel and try another night. But I said no let's go for it. I know now I was meant to keep that scheduled as the sunset was absolutely gorgeous after all and the manatees were there for us.
The rest of the trip was more eating, talking, hugging, crying and supporting each other as everyone has things going on in their lives that we, as women, feel like we have to be strong and not talk about. That it may somehow make us weak or too vulnerable. But we all let it all out this week and I believe we all helped each other even if it was in the smallest ways. I truly believe these girls are my soul mates and we will always be together no matter how near or far we are from each other. The love we have is something that most people never get to experience in their lives and for that I feel like the most lucky girl in the world!
Back to reality though after an AMAZING girls trip! Irony at it's best.... We left beautiful white powder that makes people happy and joyful and woke up Tuesday morning to the kind of white powder that makes people grumpy and irritated.... Especially at the end of April. Are you kidding me right now. Thanks mother nature for your cruel joke! LOL
Then yesterday was back in the chemo chair. You never know what the blood counts are going to do, but I was feeling lucky after my trip and blood counts allowed the chemo. Once again thanks to God's grace. I think this trip and all the love I received from the girls has given me the strength to push onward and to face whatever challenges hold for me in the next few months. The game plan right now is to finish this chemo (#12) and then I am scheduled to have a PET scan on the 4th and will find out on the 5th of May if the chemo is still working and continuing to shrink the tumors. The hope and prayers are that there are no new tumors anywhere, and that the current ones have shrunk some more or at least have remained stable. If so, we will talk about a new regimen and to possibly give me a break from this harsh chemo. So please be saying some big time prayers for me that this is the case and I get a good report on the 5th! Thank you to all my prayer warriors who continue to support and encourage me. You are what gets me through this journey with a positive outlook and attitude! Love to all! Hopefully will be updating in a few weeks with some good stuff to report!
