Two weeks ago, our boy’s dream came true.  Jacob Treebeard, Jodi, and I climbed into the basket of a hot air balloon named Diamonds and gracefully broke free of gravity’s clutches.  As we lifted off, Jacob leaned over the edge of the basket and said, “See you later!” to those watching from the ground. 

As for the backstory:  the first balloonist  I called told me no one would take up a three year old in a hot air balloon.  The mere idea was absurd.  I was crazy for even asking.  But then I talked to Chet, owner of Unknown Destinations.  When he heard Jacob’s story, he said “I want to be a part of this – we can make this happen.”  He thought it was absurd not to go, and he was crazy enough to do it.

So we met at a shopping plaza in Ravenna on a clear Monday evening.  Chet had told us we’d know the place when we saw a big rock in the parking area.  You know who had his eyes peeled, wondering aloud if every big rock we passed on the way was “the BIG rock.” 

Chet and his crew were outstanding.  We drove to a large open field where they began the extensive preparations for liftoff.  Jacob narrated the entire scene, so excited that when he wasn’t jumping up and down he was running in place.  He shouted and pointed, “That’s the fan!  Whoosh!  Look at that fire!  Look at it!”  When everything was finally in place, Chet invited us to board and the four of us flew away.  The ground receded beneath us and we climbed up over the trees watching our shadow on the ground grow smaller and smaller.      

And actually, moving to Cincinnati has been a lot like our hot air balloon ride… 

First we had to find just the right apartment.  We were given strict guidelines regarding cleanliness, proximity to the hospital, carpeting, heating/cooling, etc.  On our house hunting trip, we looked at several places in several neighborhoods and began to think that maybe we were crazy – there wasn’t anything remotely approaching a place like the kind we needed.  But then we drove past 3429 Cornell Place.  Jodi got “the feeling” she sometimes gets.  But the landlords didn’t answer the phone so though we were bummed, we were forced to head toward home without new digs.  About an hour later, the landlord called and said he could show it.  We pulled a U-turn on I-71, went back, and knew immediately that this was the place.  It met all of the specifications:  less than two miles from the hospital, newer construction, brand new carpeting, central air.  And as a bonus, there are gas lights up and down the street, huge trees, and a cool library, shopping district, and parks within walking distance.              

Then, of course, there were the extensive moving preparations.  Packing, change of address forms, switching around utilities, renting the ‘ol Budget moving truck, wiping down every square inch of the new apartment with Clorox water, moving in.  Saying, “See you later!’ to our Youngstown home and our life there.

And now we’ve launched.  The big ride has begun. 

Last week was Jacob’s workup week.  He endured an extensive battery of tests while we endured an extensive round of meetings.  It’s always hard to watch Jacob suffer, and some days of the week involved multiple needles for him.  At the same time, all of the tests came back with positive results, and we are grateful that this leg of the journey is behind us now.

But just as we breathed our sigh of relief, things came a little unglued.  Justice spiked a fever of around 103 degrees Saturday afternoon, precipitating a late-night visit to the ER.  Then Sunday morning, Jacob woke up with a significant sore on his chin which precipitated another ER run on Sunday.  So ever since Saturday, we’ve had to keep the boys separated, eating at different times, playing with different toys, living on different floors of the apartment.  It’s hard logistically and is far different from how we imagined spending our last weeks together as a family.  Jacob has added two more daily medications to his very lengthy list and will see Dr. Filipovich on Wednesday as a follow-up to his ER visit.  We planned on spending the day together tomorrow but Justice spiked another fever today – the docs say it’s probably something viral that will run its course but it means longer separation for the family.  Thank goodness Aunt Rebecca has been here to help.

But we’re confident that our times are in God’s hands.  We have about 2 ½ weeks to get everybody healthy and well-rested before the central line surgery and admission to the BMT floor.

And that brings me back to ballooning – when the hot air balloon ride was over and we were driving away from the big rock, Jacob looked up into the sky and said to us, “You are happy today!  You are happy today.”  We have every expectation that the difficult road immediately before us will lead into a wide open country for Jacob, to a life with many, many more days to be happy.