"Leap of Faith and into His Will" by Mary LaFrance

My daughter, niece and I left PDX @ 7:00 a.m. on September 9, 2005. We would fly to Dallas, TX for a short layover, then to Tulsa, OK. There we would pick up our rental car and drive to Joplin, MO to my sister Debby’s. I couldn’t sleep the night before, as I’m just like a kid when it comes to vacation…way to excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When the girls and I arrived in Dallas, they were so busy walking and talking that I decided to pull a joke on them. I slipped behind a big pillar on the concourse and waited to see how long it would take them to realize I wasn’t with them. They got about 100 feet and way and suddenly realized I wasn’t behind them. They panicked and started back towards the gate. I jumped out and said, “Here I am!” My daughter was not amused and my niece laughed and said, “Ok auntie…you got us.” We went to a restaurant and had BBQ for lunch…yummy. It would soon be time to board our plane for Tulsa. I’m so glad I splurged and paid for the girl’s airfare and took them with me. They appreciated going and we did have a ton of fun!

We arrived in Tulsa, OK, got our luggage, and made our way to the rental car facility. I rented an economy car for the duration and off we went for Joplin. The drive seemed to go quickly and we were anxious to get there. My sister and her husband were at the church for the rehearsal, so we found our way there. We walked in just as my sister turned around. She bear hugged my niece first, then my daughter and lastly me. She looked at me with tears in her eyes, and told me how much she appreciated me coming and bringing her oldest daughter and my daughter too. Martha, the bride came and gave us hugs, introduced us to her groom and then excused herself to finish the rehearsal.

Back at my sister’s house, there was plenty for us to do to lend our helping hands. I call my sister, “My Better than Martha Stewart” sister, because she has more talents than you can shake a stick at! She not only did the flowers, made the wedding cake, made the wedding dress, all of the attendants dresses, the flower girl dress, and the ring bearer outfit. She was also making all of the food and centerpieces for the reception. WE cooked from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until midnight. Debby and I finished up everything the next morning from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and then loaded up the vehicles with everything to take it to the church.

The wedding went off with just a few minor mistakes, as all weddings do. The live goldfish for the centerpiece fish bowls were dying because of the heat. My brother-in-law went to the pet store and bought more fish before my niece could see the floating ones and have a meltdown. The food was to die for, everything was done up so beautifully and at the end, my sister was exhausted and no one blamed her. We did go to the bowling alley to play pool after the reception just to unwind.

We got back home around 12 midnight. Aliceson and Faith went to bed. Debby and I sat up until about 2 a.m. talking, laughing and she wanted to know how I was actually feeling. I told her, I feel like I’m a female version of HERcules, and if I didn’t know I was going through treatment, I wouldn’t believe it. I told her about me feeling like Mr. Clean’s wife without my wig. Soon I would be losing my eyelashes and eyebrows, so that would be a whole new look again, but I’d figure out what made me comfortable. After all, I wasn’t going to enter a beauty contest anytime soon…LOL. She made me promise to keep in touch and let her know if I ever wasn’t feeling good, so she could pray specifically. I told her it was a done deal and hugged her, and told her please try not to worry, you only let the devil win and who wants that?

Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m., Aliceson, Faith and I took off to drive back to Tulsa to fly home. It was hard saying goodbye to my sister, because she was my favorite sibling, and I didn’t know when I would see her again. She clung to her daughter Faith, and had a hard time letting go of her too. We cried for about the first 50 miles and then things got better. We made it to drop of the rental car in time and my bill for 3 1/2 days rental plus the gas was only $12! Imagine that, I must have done something right in God’s eyes to deserve that gift!

I hadn’t told Aliceson and Faith, but our layover on the way home was going to be in Chicago. Aliceson had always wanted some authentic Chicago style pizza so I figured “Why not?” We landed in Chicago around 1:00 p.m. and found just the right pizza place to enjoy some Italiano…yummy! The layover was about 2 hours long, but time flew. We boarded our last leg for home and got to PDX around 7:00 p.m. our time. Home sweet home, but what a blast we had the last 4 days. Memories to boot and many good times to hold onto forever.