Special Day

A lady at church (Tonya), whose 4 year old daughter finished chemo the year before, asked me how we were doing and how Lizzie was adjusting to her new routine. I told her that the biggest thing that Lizzie missed was shopping with Mommy.

Usually I get the boys off to school and then take the younger kids and we get our groceries, run errands, go to target and then head home for lunch, now we can't do that. Even though we don't buy many toys, we always swing through the toy department to have a look and press buttons and try things out. Lizzie misses that.

Tonya arranged a special day for us by asking the local toy store if they would open just for her. At 9am on Monday morning the staff at O.P. Taylor in Asheville, NC opened there doors for just one family. They had sterilized all of the toys and were able to disinfect everything except costumes and stuffed toys. Tonya also took a collection from the people at church and got each child a gift card. For one glorious hour, Lizzie and the kids got to play, try-out, and test all of the fun toys. The staff was truly wonderful and I know it is a day they will never forget. What a great, and insightful, treat for us!

*Slightly less cool was that as we were running out the door to arrive at the store on time, we got on shoes, hoodies, and as I lifted the baby into his seat, I felt that he had a diaper blow out. As I rushed to change it with all of the kids standing around ready to go, Leo smelled the diaper and threw up on the floor....awesome. We still arrived 3 minutes early but just barely :)