Lucas Camilo

We are so close to being ready to move, and at times just that fact feels triumphant.  We’ve finally got almost all the gear we need for Lucas to travel — vents, suction machines, back up batteries, and more.  We have special permission to fly with Lucas and that equipment from the FAA, Alaska Airlines, our doctors and our vent company.  We have medical equipment, therapists, nursing, and doctors appointments lined up for when we arrive in Seattle.   We’ve already become close to some the great nurses and case managers at our new nursing agency and doctor’s office in Seattle as they help guide us through the trenches in a major battle with our insurance company.  Our moving pod arrived yesterday and our boxes are mostly packed.  We’ve found someone to drive our car across the country (thank you Tom!). And Lucas has learned to say “new house in Seattle,” even though he has no idea what it means.

Every time we ask Lucas if he wants to fly on a plane or live in that new house, he says a defiant “no.”  We assume that’s because he says “no” emphatically to lots of things these days, but maybe not.  Lucas is an incredibly observant kid, and even if he can’t imagine what “new house” or “Seattle” mean, maybe he actually does have a sense of the heaviness of this transition, the sadness in our friends’ and nurses’ and therapists’ voices when they talk about the move.  Or maybe not.  Every time this week that he’s seen someone for the last time, his “bye-byyyyye” has been heartbreakingly non-nonchalant.  And really, why would a two and a half year old understand the difference between goodbye-til-next-week and goodbye-indefinitely?

Lucas says: "Thanks Gramma for coming to town to hang out with me while Mommy and Daddy pack!"

Honestly, we’re not that different than Lucas.  We can picture “new house” and “Seattle,” but that doesn’t mean that it’s registered emotionally for us that we’re about to leave this place and the people that we love so much.  Our amazing friends Alexis and Sha are organizing a goodbye party for us this afternoon, and maybe then it will begin to really sink in.  Maybe proof of the fact that we’re in slight denial is that we haven’t been able to write the follow-up to the last blog post — the “tribute” to our amazing friends and community here in DC.  We may have to wait until we’re on the plane to begin to articulate that love.

Please continue to hold us in your thoughts for these next few days as we go through this major logistical/emotional/psychological/spiritual transition.  If you’re far away, we can use your thoughts and cheering.  If you’re in DC, please come by.  In the spirit of not being afraid to ask for help there are still some moving tasks few things we could use a hand with tomorrow and Monday.   And if you’re free today, please come by our neighbor’s house (1825 Irving) any time this afternoon to help us say goodbye.