3/10/08

Happy to be home from "Paradise"

Apparently, The Great Wolf Lodge is paradise, at least in the eyes of a soon-to-be 6 year old! Katie was absolutely in heaven, and her parents were so pleased; she was young when we had last been to an indoor water park and we really wanted for her to have a memorable and fun time. Her younger brother also enjoyed himself immensely. On Sunday Nathan actually told me he wanted to put on his "choo choo" bathing suit - a big accomplishment for someone who is only partially verbal at this time! He must have gone down one of the littler water slides at least 50 times (no exaggeration here, seriously), and he would have gone down them all if there weren't height and age restrictions. He is a crazy boy, though, and determined to do anything he can to prove himself big.
It WAS a fun time, and made even more interesting by the fact that a 24-hour snowfall record was set while we were camped out at the Lodge. We couldn't have left even if we had wanted to - even employees of the GWL were forced to stay! We got there and left with perfect timing though; we arrived at the start of the snowfall and when we left on Sunday it was sunny and the roads were clear.
I am happy to be home from "paradise", though. It feels a little weird to be carrying around this breast cancer, knowing what is in store, and seeing life go on for all those around me. I do know that everyone has their burdens (I even saw a woman who was in the middle of chemo treatment at the park), but I do sometimes feel a little isolated nonetheless. I remember that it wasn't so long ago that I was irked at something my children did, I snapped at them for something silly, I was wearing a frown over little things - and now I am so far away from that normal person I used to be. I suppose it is a good thing, in some ways, if I am snapping at my children less!
At home, I feel like I have more control. Right now, while I'm harboring a renegade disease which produces many question marks, that is a good thing. I can control what I eat (I'm going for the healthiest eater of the year, except for maybe Emily, award) better than I can at restaurants. I can control whether or not I exercise, especially now that my retail-obsessed husband bought me a treadmill. (He wants me to be able to train for the 3-day at my convenience, so that I can raise a giant amount of money to fight breast cancer!) I can read whatever I want to with my own internet connection and computer (Bill is a terrible hoarder of his laptop in hotels, and I don't always feel like arm-wrestling each time I have a thought and want to read about it).
Home has become a more comfortable place these days, especially with more painting done and things put in order. I'm comforted to be around all of my crazy relaxing pets, my stuff - I'm not even minding the crazy ugliness of this house anymore! I feel like it is more normal for me to be me-with-breast cancer here, and I can maneuver my thought processes so that they stay positive. There's less variables, less people to get into fights with (yes, I did get into a shouting match with someone whose son pushed my daughter off a snake in the pool - the soccer parents will not be surprised to read this). I'm glad we went, but even gladder because it made me so happy to be home, to hunker down and to get ready for the storm ahead.

2 comments:

natalie_r_g said...

Can you locate the parents of the boy who pushed my niece? I would like to get into a shouting match with them too. Ha, ha.

pl said...

He was giant - a 12 year old who looked like he was 15! And he shoved her off the snake and said "get off!"

Don't worry, though. After I was forceful, I then smoothed it all over with the mother.