After the 1p36 conference, we enjoyed some days of glorious weather in Bellevue and Seattle, seeing friends, eating pizza and ice cream, taking the ferry to Bainbridge island, and going to the top of the Space Needle. As I told Amy, my amusement park rides are the monorail and the Space Needle. I don’t need any more excitement than that.
The friend who took us to Bainbridge island knew that Amy loves stuffed animals so she took us to a toy store known for having an incredible collection of plushies. We walked in and I thought, “oh no, Amy is going to want all of the animals.” Well, erm, um, I must confess that while Amy got one small cat, I walked away with two animals! There was an adorable snail, or some creature with four feet pretending to be a snail by wearing a snail shell backpack. She is also wearing a red knit cap. Her name is Charlene S. Snail, but she goes by Charlie. I also adopted a gorgeous purple and pink dragon that I have dubbed Edward the Brave. When Sarah learned his name she gave him many kisses on the nose. Edward was my dad’s middle name so I think she felt like she was giving love to Granddad. That day we did a lot of walking, and dragon kisses definitely helped her have more energy to keep going.
While the food was notably good everywhere, one of our favorite breakfast experiences was the Portage Bay Cafe with their berry bar. You order whatever pancakes, waffle, or French toast you want, and then when it comes you make a trip to the berry buffet to load up from bowls of berries. Sarah’s favorite were the chocolate chip “berries.”
After our time in Seattle, we flew to Detroit and went to a classic Ford themed restaurant that my step-father would have loved. The sinks in the bathroom looked like tires and the water appeared to be flowing from gas pumps. When we entered the restaurant, the air outside was clear, but when we left, it was smokey and hazy due to the wildfires in Canada. The air quality scrapped our plans to go to Greenfield village the next day, since that involves walking outside to get between the installations I most wanted to see.
Luckily, our next major plans involved being inside in Grand Rapids for Higgy Con (a scoliosis conference) anyway, so from that perspective it was ok that the air outside was hazardous. This was our third Higgy Con, and it was Amy’s first time attending as a scoliosis-brace-graduate. She brought a small paper version of one of her braces to show people what she used to wear. As usual, it was incredible to be surrounded by so many families who have been on similar journeys. Amy did face paint art on herself and offered her skills for other attendees as well. One of the best moments was learning that I can stop nagging her to do Schroth. I had thought she needed to keep doing that kind of physical therapy forever, but it turns out that was mainly important while she was growing and bracing! Amy rocked the fashion show as always, and we enjoyed celebrating her with a fancy dinner and scrumptious dessert. She loved hanging out with her friends, some that she knew from group chats and past conferences and some that she made at this conference. As always, she wishes the conference could last for many more days.
Sarah and Carl had fun napping and exploring during some parts of the conference when Sarah wasn’t up for being at the conference itself. Sarah was delighted to find a bank that was closed, and she nearly beat Carl at duckpin bowling. She was thrilled when she got a spare.
May you feel celebrated for who you are and the challenges you overcome.
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