Over A Week Without #2

I know the title sounds awful. I couldn't think of another way to explain it, though. Mary Ann and I use to refer to our kids as "thing 1" and "thing 2" from a Dr. Suess book. After we found out about Amanda's leukemia and her weakened immune system we knew we had to be careful everywhere we went and especially at home. Of course, #2 (Erin) had a cold, runny nose, cough, etc.

During the 2 weeks Amanda was in the hospital we did our best trading off days and nights with one of us with Amanda and the other with Erin. We were so grateful for all the help we got especially from Mary Ann's sister and her family. Erin loves her cousins and her Aunt Jenny. We knew the time had come where Erin had to get over her cold before we could have her around Amanda. It was tough to do, but we packed a few bags and sent her off to live with her cousins which turned out to be for over a week. We all missed her at times and at other times we enjoyed the quiet. There were a couple of days, though, that we all felt that home just wasn't the same without Erin in the house.

It hit me hard a couple of times how much I missed her. As trying and difficult as she can be, I missed having her around and her ability to be so cute you could forgive her for about all the rest of the things she does. Probably equally challenging was just missing being a complete family again. It seems like it has been a long time since all 4 of us felt good, healthy, and had a great time together. I long for those days again.

Now I have to share both my feelings and my experience with Erin coming home. I feared that she may not want to come back and live at home. She really likes being with her cousins and hanging out with Jenny. It seems to be much more fun and entertaining to a 3 year old than here at home. My fears were confirmed when Erin finally returned home after 9 days away. She had a hard time adjusting to being back home. I got home after work and I could easily see on Mary Ann's face how tough the day was. As soon as I walked in the door Erin was screaming. She sees me and yells "I don't want to see Dad." I tried to say hi and be nice but it only created more screaming and crying. I had to leave the room for about 20 minutes before she was able to calm down and was ready to say hi and be nice.

After another 10-20 minutes I soon had Erin giving me a big hug and we were playing games again. However, she did tell me at least 10 time before she went to bed she wanted to go back to Jenny's house. Its real easy to start counting all the trials we have. Its difficult to have Mary Ann so sick, Erin so difficult, and Amanda starting on a long road to recovery from leukemia. I have to stop and remember to count my blessings instead. I'm glad to have Erin back in the house, no matter how tiring it is now. I'm glad to have such a wonderful family. I'm grateful for the support that is pouring in for us now. And I'm very grateful that Amanda is doing so well so far with her treatments and is surrounded by people that love and support her. We take things day by day here and the more time we spend counting our blessing the easier it is to get through each day.