St Jude – Hot Springs and Priorities

I had a few events happen this past weekend that I could not fathom missing in a life I had before St. Jude… But found me with little questions about what to do.

The first was my buddy PJ getting married to Fabiola.  I have known PJ for a long time and I could not think of a better reason to make the trip to his home in Cabo.  He has been telling me for years that I have a welcome space whenever I want to make the trip.  Life moves on and I have a guilt monkey on my back that grows larger and larger with each passing year that I have not made this happen.    A marriage screams of a great reason to make a trip to Mexico in the Springtime.  Even in the best of circumstances with all that is going on…  A plane ticket and a weekend away were never going to be a reality.

Also this weekend, there was a visitation for a friend of mine who passed away from Liver disease.  Rodney Modisette was a friend from the car business that I have known for the last 5 years.  His passing was a surprise to me and I really wanted to make the memorial get-together at the Lindenhauf in Peoria on Saturday.

Unfortunately, Aiden has “scheduled” a gameday for me and my Brother (His Uncle ) Dan on Saturday morning.

It is literally unthinkable that I would miss a friend’s wedding and a wake on the same weekend for no better reason than my kids.

But,  If you are a friend of mine… You know that this might be my best reason to not make an event.  Talk about priority shifts.  Time is at a premium this year and I was not going to navigate a trip to Mexico during Summer’s treatment.  Aiden being home for the weekend and asking to hang out for a day means the world to me and I had to make the decision to miss Rodney’s wake.

If I have to let anyone down…  I will dump on my friends!!! Sorry, you guys and gals are first in line with hopes of a deeper understanding.

Rodney, if the cosmos allows you to hear me.  I am sorry.  I hate disappointing you.  I hope a lot of folks from the car business showed up and told “shop stories”.  Shop stories are the best stories, and all of us in the car business knows it!  Rodney’s Obituary

PJ.  I wish you and Fabiola all the love in the world.  I am looking forward to hopping on a whale-watching boat with you guys and getting a taste of the Baja life someday!  2023 was not meant to be.

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If anyone was following along with Dad’s posts on Facebook.  You would know that Summer did make a quick escape to Hot Springs this weekend.

I only had one recommendation for her…  The Colonial Pancake House is our go-to stop when Jake and the gang stop down in that area for our favorite off-road event.  Southern Cruiser Crawl.  Summer was gunning for a Jr. Ranger badge that she knows her Mother does not have.  That seems to be motivation for both of them…  They go to parks and then text each other photos of the badges they earned in order to aggravate the other.  Aiden and I gave up on this competition years ago.  It’s a Stahl girl thing.

I talked to Summer today and she told me about getting in this morning to Hot Springs National Park.  They arrived early and got a reservation for a “bath”.  She was lucky enough to get a 30-minute soak before they made her get out.  Normally you get 15.

Afterward, the “Nates” and she all got massages and then hit the Hot Springs brewery for some food (and beer?).

Tonight, they are back in Memphis, where Nate will stay with Summer during his spring break from Carbondale.

Summer’s antibiotics were done on Thursday last week and the doctor held off from starting the next round of Chemotherapy till this week.  (Thus the quick trip) Tomorrow she will go in for her first dose for this round.  The regimen is a lot lighter and it’s likely that she will be able to stay every night in Target House during this treatment span.   I will head down this weekend to relieve Nate whenever he gets tired of her!

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Summer’s summer vaca plans.

Well, those have been all over the place.  I had made mention of an Alaskan Cruise being Summer’s dream vaca after St. Jude is over.  Somebody, I think my Mother, signed us up for Alaskan vacation guides.  They are awesome!  But, Alaskan plans are probably falling out of a 2023 timeline.

Summer has been gassed for the past few weeks and the thoughts of laying down a commitment to being healthy enough to travel are daunting.  When we were holed up in the apartment during my last week in Memphis, our conversation would wander to the realities of deadlines for doing anything this summer in the 49th state.  We are now in the “you waited too long and it’s going to be expensive and you won’t have much to choose from” vicinity of planning.

Let’s be honest.  If you have ever done a cruise, you know what it’s like when you pull into port.  1 million people march out of the boat for fun excursions on shore.  You can be lame and wander around the port town… But those are still a ton of walking.  This does not sound fun for a healthy person and it sounds extra terrible when you are weak and out of breath from just walking to the front door of St. Jude.  (Not me… Her!)

I tried to convince Angela to let me sell our little 16′ camper that we used once since purchasing.  (been a little preoccupied since taking it out of storage last April)  Not that don’t want it… I just wanted to figure out a way to get something Summer and Nate could use this Summer if they wanted to road trip.  Was totally thinking campervan.  I found a couple of Class B campers…  They are like a large full-size vans with beds and kitchenettes setup.

This… Now led to another idea…  Get a camper this summer and drive it to Idaho.  Summer is fixated on Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho.  It’s about 3000 miles roundtrip.  I think we could rent an RV and just make a big long week drive out of it.  We could probably wait till closer to our driving date to make a decision as well.

I am hoping that this weak time in Summers body seems like ancient history after a month or two away from St. Jude.  Then, the thought of a trip might be something that seems more realistic and we can move on with our typical Stahl family vacation extravaganza plans.