Day +20

This afternoon I hit a milestone of my own... I drove approximately one mile to U Village to take a break from the hospital. We have stayed a current combine total of 69 days and this is furthest I have been. I talked to my sister on the drive down, she said - enjoy the time away, pretend like your life is normal! This got me thinking about how my norm is so absolutely abnormal. I wandered through a couple of stores determined to find something to treat myself to. I brought a few things into the dressing room, tried on a shirt and looked up - I laughed... there is no way a new shirt or new wardrobe for that matter will take any attention away from the big dark circles under my eyes. I left that store but decided to try another, wandering around I looked at my fellow shoppers -fashionable moms pushing strollers, older ladies looking so put together and again laughed, my non-showered self with un-brushed hair looked a little un-kept for U Village midday but I didn't care. I took a new approach on my next trip to the dressing room - I only really looked from the neck down... I'll take it! With my splurge in hand I picked up a few needed toiletries and headed back to the hospital.
A few hours later I saw an opportunity to take a shower so I headed up to the 5th floor to further indulge myself. Georgia had been resting peacefully when I left so I didn't feel the need to fly through the shower. When I was getting ready I glanced at a dispenser on the bathroom wall.. lotion, we'll why not? It has been weeks since I put lotion on, what a treat! I put it on while talking to my step mom on the phone, I paused mid conversation and laughed... then proceeded to tell her that I had just put lotion SOAP all over... time to hop back in the shower. Clean once again I carefully read the label of the other dispenser... lotion... actual lotion.
Tonight after Georgia had a long nap I realized that she'd spent all day in bed, some of it playing but she needed to get out. I asked our nurse if we could do a loop around the floor - something that you need permission and accompaniment for here. We got the ok and met several nurses all so sweet to her and pulling out all the stops to grab her attention. Once back in our room we played on the mat for a bit and have now just climbed into bed. The bright lights of the nurses station are barely dimmed by the curtain hung over the sliding glass door, our "running stream" noise machine is going and we're snuggled into the single hospital bed we share. Normal is not what I would call this but it's where we need to be right now, I don't want to rush any part of this, it's about Georgia being given the opportunity to heal properly so we can someday soon move on to the rest of our life.