Wishing...

An odd title, I know. However, we've all got our wishes. I wish I was done with school, my parents wish I was married, and I wish people would stop bugging me about it. See? These are just some simple examples.

I also have some wishes that involve you. I wish you could get to know my good friend Erin. While we're at it, I wish I could explain why all my good friends are under the age of 15!


I wish I hadn't gotten to know Erin for the reasons I did. Erin is my former roommate's daughter. I got to know her while she was receiving treatments for leukemia at the hospital I work at. I wish she hadn't had to endure 6 months of basically living in a hospital room, chemotherapy, sicknesses, non-stop Dora the Explorer, and a few other things I'm sure. To be fair, she did like Dora, but her parents might not be as messed up as they are if it hadn't been for that one ;)

Speaking of her parents, I wish you could meet them as well. I'm not sure I have ever met anyone with such a positive outlook on life. I just don't see how John could have lived with me as long as he did and not have my rosy outlook on life. I blame Jill - she must have undone all my hard work.


I wish you could meet their kids as well. They are the sweetest, happiest, mellowest kids I know. I'm sure they have their moments, but I've never seen it. Meeting them just reinforces to me what I observed in their parents.

So why all this wishing? Well, because all these pictures are from Erin's Make-A-Wish party. All my wishes so far I have no power or ability to grant. However, for the Make-A-Wish party, I had an in - Renee was in charge of it! Erin was going to Disneyworld to meet princesses and we got to throw her a send-off party.


It started with a carriage ride to the ball. Don't you just love the costumes?


A relative of Steve's made Erin her own princess dress. Check this outfit out! Isn't it amazing? Matching hat and purse, too!


My fun was that I finally got to wear my Prince Charming costume I showed you earlier. Betsy and company did an awesome job finishing it up. It was awesome! You'd never know that was all stitched together DI supplies!


I had a lot of favorite parts that day, so I'll just explain a couple of them. When I first got to talk to Erin, she was so excited to show me she had hair! Last time I saw her, she was still pretty bald. I was surprised she knew I hadn't seen her hair yet.

The next fun part for me was this next picture. I had just asked her is we could sit with her, meaning at her table. She said yes and then immediately sat down! See, she's sitting with us! Love how literal kids are.


As everyone was cleaning up, I tried my hand at entertaining her for a bit. It was easy enough in her hospital room - she was a captive audience. However, I tried playing a game we had made up in the hospital: Hot Dog! It consists of just saying hot dog in as many weird ways as you can think of. Each time you say it, Erin will jump. It only worked a couple times in the hospital before she got bored of it, but it worked here! Again, I was surprised she remembered.

I really wish you could hear her deep belly laugh as she does this, as well as see the sparkle in her eye when she looks up at you while laughing. Priceless. It's amazing how five minutes of that could completely make my day. It hits this invisible reset button in your heart that helps you refocus your priorities. You can't help but leave smiling.


And now for my favorite picture from the day. I wish I could explain why I love this picture so much, but I can't. To me, it just somehow captures Erin's trust and friendship to me as well as my desire to help and protect her. I also love how her big sister is there helping her. If you have time, you should read through Erin's blog to see all the nice and simple ways she watches out for her little sister.


If you now wish you could meet Erin, I wish you would join us this weekend! Erin will be participating at a fundraising walk and everyone is invited! You can join her team here.

And in closing, my other favorite story from that day. I decided that two hours at the party wasn't enough time with them, so the night before, I called John to invite them to join me and my family for a barbeque at Nikki's. The conversation went about like this:
me: John, do you guys have dinner plans tomorrow?
John: No, why?
me: Well, I was thinking two hours isn't enough time to catch up, so we should do dinner.
John: Oh, ok. Um, would you like to join us for dinner? We don't have anything special planned, but you're welcome to come join us.

And that simple conversation alone should say all I need to say about why I absolutely love these guys. As a final edit, they did come to Nikki's instead of me going there, and they didn't have to bring a thing.