I can't believe that we moved from Atlanta after the first full week of May, and we've already been back twice. The first visit was b/c my Nana passed away. Shortly after her funeral, my grandfather (Nani boy) was found on the floor. He had been there for a long time, and he was near death. He spent a LONG time in the hospital without any improvement. At least, that was the situation when we made our plans spur of the moment to visit him. I didn't want to regret missing him despite my inconvenience for the rest of my life. In addition, it was his 89th birthday week and my mother's big 60! I thought it was the perfect week to visit.
We left EARLY on Monday morning in an effort to make a stand by flight to ATL - which we made with enough time to spare that we were able to make the even earlier flight. We took no chances this time after our "run through the airport" on our previous trip from Orlando to Atlanta.
Dad picked us up. Emily, Steph & Dee were the only others to know about our trip, and they prepped the beds for our stay. It was a complete surprise to Mom and Nani. Mom cried and jerked Lizzy out of Dad's hands. She was really excited to see us! I stayed with Mom for a bit while Dad took Andrew to the hospital to see Nani at which time Andrew fed Nani his lunch - and he ate it almost in it's entirety including foods like squash that he hates! Way to go, Andrew!
Nani was in a bad way when we got there. He was horizontal and completely bruised and sad. Day 2, he was sitting up with a giant goofy grin covering his face, and Day 3...well, you wouldn't have known it was the same person! He was sitting up and doing SO well that they released him from the hospital to a nearby rehab facility!
Day 4, Thursday was his 89th birthday! He was doing so well. I thought any minute he might get up and skip around the room. We had a HUGE birthday celebration for him late that night, and our entire family including Dad, Mom, Les & Kate (who also flew in for the big event all the way from NY), me and my 2 kids, Ben, Em, and Stephanie. We had ice cream bars, his favorite coconut cake, and ice cream cones. He was so happy! It was a full room...very loud and lively at a late hour, but he was happier than I've seen him. He didn't care that it was way past his bedtime. He didn't care that we were loud. He didn't care that we were sitting on his bed. He loved every second of it. In face, he had a huge tickle fight (you can see this on my FB page) with Andrew!
We left early Friday morning. Thanks, Dad, for getting up super early and taking us to the airport! Thanks also, Emily, for staying up all night with me - sorry 'bout that! We had a wonderful exhausting trip - well worth the inconvenience!
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