Quick Trip

A, O and I made our way west this past weekend to visit with some friends I usually only see once a year. It was great to see these women and finally meet their kids, children whom I felt I already knew from hearing/reading about them from their moms.

We drove about four hours on Friday, spent the night and then drove back five hours (all five hours in. the. rain. Seriously, it stopped raining when we were three miles from home.)

During the time we were in Aurora, IL, we spent time at a playground, watching a baseball game, eating dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (where the kids, at their own table, may have spoken all of three words to each other since they all had those hand-held trivia games.) We also swam in the hotel pool and at a community pool.

It was lovely but felt very fast paced, even when we were all sitting in my friend K’s beautiful house waiting for some strange dudes to be done laying carpet in her basement. The kids all seemed to hit it off right away.

Well, okay, so Olivia was a little clingy because of K’s dogs, who were lovely and redeemed their entire species after our last bike riding debacle with the evil poodle. K’s dogs barked when we first got there, which, duh, we were strangers and they were protecting their home. But, sadly, O hates all dogs and the instant she hears barking, she’s climbing up my leg.

And yes, Alyssa almost sat at the adult table during dinner because the only chair left at the kid table was between two boys and hello, that was NOT going to happen. Thankfully, Julie’s awesome daughter is cool about boys and she offered to switch seats with Alyssa. Alyssa was much happier to sit with her back to my back and beside one of the other girls. That Alyssa is so, so much like me sometimes I can’t even stand it.

But other than those two moments, we had such a great time.

I met two of these three women through the March of Dimes. The other, Julie, I’ve known, well, forever. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had and I am so lucky we met during college. The fact that we both had kids who served time in the NICU (yep, I just said it that way) is just one more reason for us to be so close.

So yes, Olivia spent eleven days in the NICU due to having 5p- syndrome and not being able to breathe very well on her own immediately after birth.

But those eleven days seem like a walk in the park when you consider the time the kids of my friends did. All three of these women had preemies. Their babies did a minimum of 87 days in the NIU. And they’re walking talking miracles today.

We are all so, so lucky that the March of Dimes exists and does the research it does. We’re also lucky that it supports families and brings us all together to support each other.

Friendships are often hard (for me) to come by in adulthood. I am so incredibly blessed and lucky to have made friends with these beautiful women.