Weekend Getaway

Kris and I have been married for 11 years, had children in the picture for 5 years, and in that time, we've never gone away just the two of us to enjoy one another's company.  We've always gone away with family or had the kids with us.  This year for our anniversary, I surprised Kris with a weekend getaway to Cedar City.  While I know Cedar City isn't an exotic place, I didn't care where we went, only that we had some time together.

 I bought the tickets for everything in February and I had arranged for my sister to take the kids one night and my parents to take the kids another night.  We planned to leave on Friday when Kris got off work and return on Sunday afternoon.  Because my mom was in the accident and unable to work, she was looking more and more like she couldn't do it.  I had asked Carol and Errol if they could be our potential subs, but they hadn't been feeling well and weren't able to take on a commitment like that.  I had thought about my sister, but she had to work on Saturday and wouldn't be able to take the extra day.  I thought about our friends, the Holts, but hadn't asked yet.  At that point, my sister was my saving grace and the only one who I thought could help us out.

A week before we were scheduled to leave, my sister called.  She had a surgery in February and got a blood clot as a result.  She finally found answers about her leg and that answer was surgery.  The blood clot was 13 inches long and if they didn't operate, they said she'd be dead in 30 days.  She needed to go in for surgery immediately and could not help by watching the kids.

At this point, I felt so bad for my sister and for myself.  I cried and felt completely defeated.  I figured at this point, the trip was off and I wouldn't be able to spend time with Kris.  That evening, my parents left me a message asking me to come by their house on the way home from work.  I did, and my father said he was going to step up and take on the responsibility of watching the kids for both days.  I was so grateful and relieved  but felt guilty even allowing it.  My parents insisted and I gratefully accepted.

Wednesday, 2 days before we were to leave, Kyson started throwing up.  He was throwing up into Thursday morning, but was able to keep food down for the 24 hours before we left and I hoped all would be well.  I warned my parents, but admitted that he seemed fine.  We sent him to school on Friday and prayed all would be well.  Because Murphy's Law seemed bent set against us going, the only other fear I had at this point was a car accident.

We weren't able to leave Friday morning as hoped.  Too many things weren't working in our favor and we weren't able to get on the road until nearly 1:00 in the afternoon.  Once we got in the car and were on our way, we were just so grateful, we didn't care how late it was.  We were going to be away for two days and were ecstatic.

We arrived in Cedar City just in time to see Taken 2 and have a nice dinner at Wingers before we checked into the hotel.  The hotel was amazing and that night we went to the hot tub and relaxed.  It was so wonderful and so needed after 5 years of no opportunity to just be together.  The next morning we had a hot breakfast and decided to adventure out on our own, once again, something we had never done before.  We decided to go to Kolob Canyon and do a little hiking.  The weather was beautiful and we wanted to take advantage of it.  Kolob is very small and there was only one real hike that we could go on.  We walked the path and took pictures when we could.  There were some nice people who offered to take pictures for us as well.

The day was still young when we had done all we could in Kolob, so we decided to venture down to Zions National Park.  The drive was nice, but getting into the park was crazy.  It was so crowded that it was a wait just to get into the park, then we had to pray to find a parking spot.  Luck would have it that we did.  Maybe we payed our dues before we left so the Lord was making it up to us then.  We rode the shuttle, looked at the sites and did two small hikes before we decided we needed to get back.  It was a beautiful day of nature and company.

That evening, we went to dinner and a play with the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  I was so excited to show Kris the area of where I have gone every summer for the past 7 years when I chaperon the Shakespeare trip for La Europa.  We saw Stones in his Pockets starring the two artistic directors.  I thought it was a comedy when I purchased the tickets, but it was a drama so I was a bit disappointed.  They did a phenomenal job, but I wanted to show Kris a comedy.  Kris didn't care.  He loved it and thought it was well done.

The next morning, our last, we planned to have a leisurely breakfast and slowly make our way out of town.  We got a phone call that morning that Kodi had been throwing up all night and my mom started throwing up that morning.  Our vacation was over and the stress set in.  We quickly got ready to go, filled up, skipped lunch, and drove straight through.  When we arrived at my parents, Kodi was sound asleep and we didn't want to disturb her, so we took Kyson to McDonalds since we hadn't eaten either.

I asked my father how it all went and he said that he'd rather be back in Vietnam than go through that again.  I'm grateful that they were able to help, but I felt so bad that my mom got sick and my dad was so miserable.  I loved being away and feeling such freedom, but I don't think we'll ever be able to do that again.