Headed back to Cali

When your mom is battling stage 4 lung cancer, you live 3000 miles away and you find this note at the bottom of your 1st graders backpack, your heart starts to hurt a little bit more than it already did when you woke up that day-

Since we left Cali 2 years ago, it was always my plan to go back for Kayla and Kyra's graduation from high school. Due to the kids still being ins school, and the ridiculous price of cross county airline tickets, I always just assumed it would be me traveling alone back for their graduations. 

Then my mom got cancer again. 

And while I knew that she would love for all of us to make the trip, I knew that wasn't in the cards. When she got cancer the first time, I flew out to surprise her with Tate. So I thought I'd do that again, and this time bring Macy as the surprise. 

The only person I told that Macy was coming was my dad...

We left early Wednesday June 8. Macy was psyched to be skipping school, headed to California, with a whole new wardrobe. (Thank you fabulous thrift store.) And she was delighted to be "the big surprise!"

When we arrived, my sister came to the airport to get us. I sent Macy out to the curb by herself to greet my sister. While she did seem surprised, within minutes she said "oh now this makes sense!" And explained that my grandmother told her that I was bringing Macy. WHAT?!?!?! Apparently my father didn't keep my secret a secret after all and everyone knew. @#$%^&! 

On Thursday Kristen, the kids and her mom drove to Fresno (3 hours each way) to see Macy and I. We weren't able to connect when I was back in April because I was busy with my mom each day, and haven't seen each other since we moved 2 years ago- so this was such a treat. We met up at John's Incredible Pizza, and while the kids played, we adults sat and talked for 3 hours. It blew my mind that our kids are now old enough to give us the luxury of 3 hours of talking! 

 Me and my sweet Goddaughter Riley-

Two years ago Wes used to play this little "kissy-bug" game with us all. Funny that now he's the one that doesn't like when Titi plays kissy-bug with him!

Lynn gave us all a few treats, and Macy just couldn't wait to get on her new (and first ever) tankini. Thankfully, my mom's new place has a pool!

Just a week before I arrived, my mom moved into a new place. While Ambra and her crew had the terrible job of doing all the actual moving of furniture and boxes, I had the easy job of unpacking said boxes. I love to purge other peoples stuff. It's so easy when it's not your own, right? Well, no way was my mom getting rid of the 15 year old Cher farewell tour giant poster book! Oh no. No way.

 Anybody want dibs on that? Anyone?

Macy got to spend an overnight with my grandmother. They played paper dolls, cards, and even a bingo game that was from my grandmothers childhood- it was 75+ years old!

 Suddenly Friday came, and it was graduation night. Historically, Sanger High has always held their graduation at their football stadium. While other local schools have moved theirs inside, to accommodate more family members, and escape the blistering Fresno heat, Sanger held out.  The night of Jacob's graduation it was 105 degrees out when we got in our seats. The sun was setting- on us. It was absolutely terrible. So needless to say, I was delighted to hear that Sanger decided to cave to tradition and this years graduation would be held at Fresno State University. INSIDE! Woo hooo.

My mom is bald these days. She wears a hat anytime she leaves her house. While unpacking my mom, I found a pin that said #1 Grandmother. I thought it might be fun to jazz up one of her hats with the pin for her to wear to the graduation-

 Fun right? My sister wasn't so thrilled.

Check this out-

 Almost 700 graduates! Blows my mind. There was 150 graduates in my high school class, and that was from 3 towns even.

The end of the ceremony was super special when cannons shot off tons of confetti into the air, falling over the graduates-

 Not a dry eye in the place.

Ambra and Kayla-

Kayla and her boyfriend, D'Andre-

Our whole gang, minus Ambra's boyfriend Shawn, who thoughtfully took the picture-

Chris, Brooklyn and Kyra-

My parents and the girls-

Great grandma and the girls-

No idea who these oddballs are, with the girls-

Ambra and Frankie with the girls-

Saturday night Ambra threw a big party at the house for the girls- 

Sunday was our last day and we just chilled. Mostly, Macy just wanted to spend lots of time with Brooklyn-

Brooklyn is pretty perfect. She is happy almost always. And she's so darn cute and cuddly. But boy did she come alive around Macy. It was so heartwarming to watch. And with Macy being so baby crazy, she just sucked up every second with Brooklyn.

I knew having Macy along for this trip with me would be difficult at some points. When adults needed to talk, she'd have to entertain herself. When I was busy helping my mom, she'd have to entertain herself. Etc etc. Well, boy did she find way to entertain herself...

My mom lives in a condo complex for senior citizens. I bet they loved looking out their windows one morning to see Macy climbing up their light poles-

My mom sleeps, a lot. Macy took it upon herself once to pile Brooklyn's gigantic teddy bears on top of my mom-

I'm pretty sure my mom was asleep in this photo, and Macy was encouraging her to stay awake!

Monday came way too fast. Suddenly we were at the airport. But not before I bought my mom this t-shirt that said "Sleep now, adventure later." So fitting for someone who can/needs sleep 20 hours a day!

Macy is seriously the baby whisperer.... On our flight out, we had a baby seated in front of us whom she entertained the whole flight. Then she found these two waiting to board our flight home-

One of them would end up seated in front of us on the flight, which made Macy very very happy.

Lynn sent home presents for Tate and Brian too. New swim shorts for Tate and a bottle of long awaited wine for Brian-

So, keep praying for my mom, okay? Her battle continues each and every day. She needs prayers for first and foremost, a cure; also weight gain, pain relief, continued high spirits. There was some good news after her last scans, but there is a very long road ahead and prognosis still ain't good. We keep praying for a miracle here, and I hope you will too. So very thankful she had another 5 days with her youngest granddaughter. Macy's plane ticket was priceless, and I am so glad she was able to come  along with me. For my moms sake, but also for mine. It was so great to be able to travel with her. I hope we have lots of trips for just the two of us ahead...