Goodbye Chicago

It was time to leave Chicago and say goodbye to the city...but we had two more stops before we could leave. The first stop was Niketown..yes, for the third time this trip.  Riggs had wanted a yellow Live Strong bracelet and he found one at Niketown...but somehow between trip two and Friday morning it had disappeared. He looked for it...we looked for it...but we never found it.  I could tell it really made him sad...that he really wanted this wrist band so before check out we made the trek back down to Nike town for another one. I felt like the mom in The Divine Sisters of the YaYa sisterhood taking Sidda back to ride in the plane...it was that important to him. 

We walked into the store and once he got it in his hand...he smiled and relaxed as we waited in line to pay for it...and after we did pay for it and he opened it up and put it on his wrist he shot me that shy, sweet smile of his and buried his head in my stomach and said...I love you...thanks. It may have been the best $1.06 I ever spent.....just a little reminder that you have to pay attention to the little things...to what makes them light up inside....most often it's not the things you think it will be....

Last stop...Jamba Juice! The boys had really wanted to try this place and so we did...and then we packed it up and headed home!

The trip  home was a hard one...lots of traffic...and detours getting out of the city! I will admit that I was a stress ball in my big truck with my four kids and my mother driving around...not knowing where the hell I was going in downtown  Chicago...but I got through it...and every toll road brought me closer to I65 and familiar territory. The kids were tired and I thought... I can get through this..only 100 miles left...I can do this...and then....wait for it..... Riggs got car sick and threw up in his McDonald's cup...and then needed to throw up again. So I rolled down my window and threw an entire McDonald's sweet tea out the window...and half of it came back in on me. I passed back the empty cup for him to fill up with puke. In the meantime mom plopped the already full cup in the front cup holder...and it splashed all over my shirt and seat....just breathe....keep driving.....
So I pulled into Zermatt Court covered in sweet tea and puke...but with a wonderful spring break behind  us. As I carried Riggs to the garage to strip him of his clothes and get him in the bath, I saw his yellow arm band on his wrist...Live Strong.....I'm trying to, Lord...that's for sure......