The kids will be sharing a room to themselves and a concern that I have is whether they will get along or not. If we prep them and tell Xavier he needs to take care of his brother he is pretty good. So far on this trip things have progress quite smoothly. The two of them have gotten along and have supported each other. My sister and i got along much better when we were on our own and not living in the house. Something that I realized at the time was I was her big brother and it was my responsibility to support her however I could. Most of the time it was something simple like just providing support and chatting her while she walked home from school. Now she is returning the favour 1000 fold supporting me. She has selflessly offered up everything in order to help out. Whether it was financial, moving back to Sudbury or just providing emotional support. I have left her to deal with my parents as I do not have the capacity to handle them all of the time. Her and Mel keep them from harassing me all of the time and it has been relatively effective. I am not sure what I would do without such an awesome sister. As I was sleeping last night this is what I hope the boys learn from this trip sharing a room. That they need to take care of each other. You can have small squabbles and arguments, but when your family needs you, you show up. I realized that this is something that was extremely important to my father and it was also the cause of internal family strife. There were times where he perceived that others did not show up for the family and he is ruthless and would not hesitate to cut them out of his life completely. I get some of those bad traits from him, but I think I understand his perspective a bit more as I have been going through this. The amount of family support that I have received has been ridiculous. Everyone has offered to help out in their own way. I do not want my kids to follow that path. I want them to help when there is nothing to gain and even if they do not appreciate it. Everyone has their own problems and if we can help, we should.
It is 2am right now and this is normally my meal where I can eat the most, but I have not been able to eat much at this time. I slept fine enough, but my body is not reacting the way that I expected. The plan for today is to go visit the castle and ride up the gondala. I am not fatigued right now but I question how much I will be able to handle. Luckily I listened to everyone and we have the wheelchair. Xavier did a far better job of navigating through the airport. We were supposed to go through preboarding to get on earlier but it was such a zoo we missed it. People just gather around the gates even if it is not their turn to enter and they had ended up blocking our zone. Xavier is not aggressive and pushy enough to barge his way through. I was amused at boarding though when they asked if he was 16 as he has not signed his passport. The girl remarked that he was big. He is not just tall now and has gained some width. He is the one that normally watches me because if somethinf happens he has the size and the strength now to actually do something about it.
Getting off the plane was such a debacle but it ended up ok actually. For accessible they only allow one person to go with with me while everyone else had to go somewhere else. I got driven to where we had to go but I got to bypass all of the lines and Mel, my sister and Olivier got stuck in a line with hundreds. The issue was I had all of the passports. The workers were wonderful and worked hard to make sure we were all together. With accessibility the treatment was quite different from what I have seen. The benefit was that they were able to join us and skip the extremely lengthy lines. They were so far away that they could not even see where we were. Baggage claim was extremely fast and everything was there once we went through custom. A lot of people were not through the customs as of yet. Barcelona is beautiful and I will give up updates through the day.
We arrived at the hotel and were quite early for check in. The staff had a room ready and accommodated us while we went to hang out in my sister’s room our room became available and we went to unload our things. We were hungry and had a late breakfast and then the kids room was ready by that time. My sister and the kids have rooms next to each other which makes things easier. Mel and I are down the hallway. Each room is distinct with its own charm. For a European hotel, the rooms are huge and spacious.
After resting a bit in the hotel we ventured out in the neighborhood and found some small local areas and ended up at a tapas bar where we had a quick afternoon snack. I was able to actually try all of the food because of the small portion sizes. It was perfect because I got to taste every thing without overeating. I think that the culinary experience is worth it. After our meal we walked to the hospital as it was not too far. The whole way to the hospital is up hill on bumpy ground and then it is a wall downhill to the hotel. Overall it is an 800m walk that takes 10min. We had gone to a small corner store and bakery to pick up some goods and the goal tonight is to get dinner around 6 and then have an early evening. Our bodies did not get a full 8hrs of sleep and the kids are ok, but I am feeling my 3.5hours of sleep.
Q – I’m thinking of you as you travel to Barcelona. I know this is a huge journey—emotionally and physically—and I admire your strength. I hope the trip goes as smoothly as possible and that you find comfort and excellent care there.
Take things one step at a time. It’s okay to feel whatever comes up—tired, scared, hopeful—and to rest when you need to.
Wishing you clear answers, and moments of peace and warmth in Barcelona and don’t forget that you’re not alone in this. Many of us although far away, are traveling with you through your blogs. Prayers to you.
Shawna