Honey Badger Bad

I know many of you have walked with us during the past year as my daughter went through the healing process from osteosarcoma which we discovered on May 15, 2011.  Osteosarcoma is a malignant bone cancer that often attacks children just as their bones stop growing.  It has been a long and exhausting year, but now that we are three months out from her last round of chemo, and the doctors tell us her immune system is back to normal, I am happy to let you know they’ve announced she is in remission.  We are now on a five-year journey to an announcement of “cancer-free,” which seems like a long time, but we have made it this far, and I know we can do the rest.  It’s just the beginning of another “paper-chain” for us to work our way through. 

What does this have to do with the title of today’s post?  For that I get to tell you the story of Meg’s Make-A-Wish trip.  Meg wanted to go to Hawaii, and in early August, we got to do exactly that.  Our cottage on the ‘garden’ island of Kauai had a beautiful view as it was within a hundred yards of the beach. We had a great time as a family playing cribbage, eating good food, enjoying good sleep, wandering around the island and finding plenty of time to just talk with each other.  Meg found a Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand she really liked, requiring almost daily trips.  Andrew seemed to enjoy the trip and food as well, and it was glorious to have him around.  Sometimes you don’t realize how much you really miss someone.  We missed him.

During our stay, we had the opportunity to SCUBA dive four times.  All the dives were glorious, and Meg realized she could still dive, even with new challenges she faces from the cancer.  We dove with Aquatic Adventures from Kauai, and the level of care and expertise they brought to our experience was amazing.  They handled all our needs and made sure everyone was taken care of.  I would recommend them if you are ever in the neighborhood.  Say Hi to Neil for all of us.

Meg had scheduled the activities for our first day on the island.  She’d worked with an outfitter to be able to do some zip-lining.  Now, before any of you get too tickled by the image of me zipping across the landscape, forget it.  Even with high tension cables and reinforced everything, weight limits and I chose not to work together.  The adventure Meg had scheduled also involved a mile or so of hiking over very hilly terrain, kayaking about the same distance, followed by another short hike to the zip-line location.  Following the zip-lining adventure, we ate lunch and then reversed our trek to return.  Andrew and I were beside ourselves as we just knew this was much too strenuous for our girl.  She showed us.  Meg accomplished every bit of the adventure, including the last 300 yards up a 30° slope to get back to the truck. And, just to show us how tough she was, she did it all while wearing a pack she wouldn’t relinquish. 

That girl is tough … honey badger tough.  Sara, Andrew and I now only worry a regular amount about her, not a special amount.  So, off to college she goes …

I am sure there are more adventures to come.