I was SO thrilled that we could do something for Grandpa that he was never able to do before. While we were down in Florida at Disneyworld, he mentioned that he had never been able to tick a hot air balloon ride off his bucket list and at that moment I knew I had to find a way to get him in one. I booked our ride for December 16th a month in advance and made Grandpa save the date without telling him what we were doing. Well, because it was a surprise and I wanted it to be perfect, the Universe just HAD to conspire against me! Hahaha! About 2 weeks before the ride, Grandpa called us up and said he needed to see us. I could tell right away it wasn’t good news and knew it had to do with his health so we raced down to see what was going on. He proceeded to tell us that he had been in the ER for about 16 hours with chest pains, shortness of breath, a sky rocketing pulse and numbness in his chin. Needless to say, I didn’t handle this news very well since he was telling us AFTER THE FACT and didn’t call when he was actually in the ER. I was able to control myself enough to not shoot out of my chair and attack him but I completely lost my mind and cried my eyes out for a good 20 minutes. After pulling it together and making a pact for any future similar events, he told us that they had sent him home because they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh ok. They did an MRI, a chest X ray and ran other tests and said his results came back perfect on all of them. We honestly had no idea what the heck was going on. So this all happened on a Sunday and that coming Friday he was supposed to fly up to Boston to hang out with his family but wasn’t sure he could go because of this turn of events. I kept in touch with him throughout the week and on Thursday he said he felt well enough to travel. I asked him to text me when he arrived and when he returned and he did both and both times said he was doing good. So I of course thought he was fine. WEEELLLLLLL….I got a phone call from him on the Monday afternoon after he returned (5 days before our balloon ride) and he said “I have good and bad news. I went to Urgent Care today and was diagnosed with Pneumonia.” I almost laid an egg because I’m thinking how is this good news!!!??? But he said he was so happy to KNOW what was going on because he almost didn’t make it out alive from Boston. The doctor told him that he basically had only one working lung because the other one was so filled with fluid. Completely shocked that they didn’t admit him to the hospital, I wondered if he would be able to make the balloon ride that Saturday. I talked to Tommy and he said we could wait until that Thursday to see how he was healing and either reschedule or press on. I called him almost everyday checking up on him and he said he was slowly getting better. On Thursday I called him and he said he was doing good and excited for our Saturday surprise. I was still skeptical but crossed my fingers and told him we were a GO. On Saturday morning, we picked him up at 5:30am and drove him 45 minutes across town to meet the balloon crew at a McDonalds restaurant. Grandpa had NO idea what was going on and I made them all SWEAR not to say a thing until they absolutely had to. We all piled into the pilot’s truck and drove out to the launch site. When we got there,  I finally had to spill the beans because we couldn’t avoid it any longer. I told him we had booked him a balloon ride and he looked at me like I was insane! Hahahaha! Unfortunately, it was too windy at the first launch site so we had to pack back in the truck and drive to a second one that was a decent drive away. En route, keeping to the theme of near death experiences, we almost got in a car accident when some lady, no doubt tired from an early morning commute, merged into our lane and nearly side swiped us. God was absolutely determined to make me earn this one!! When we arrived at the second launch site, the wind was calm but it was 34 degrees and I was absolutely freezing. The crew asked us if we wanted to go ahead or reschedule simply because this route wasn’t as spectacular and was shorter in length than the original ride. I asked Grandpa and he said “Let’s do it!” So we proceeded to unpack the balloon, air it up, pile in and take a ride! It was pretty awesome and even though we were all cold, everyone enjoyed it. After about 30 minutes, we found a big field and nearly crash landed. The wind had picked up and 2 of the crew members had to basically wrestle the basket to a stop. It was pretty funny. After manhandling the balloon back into it’s bag and piling back in the truck, we went and had champagne and brunch at a local park and celebrated our successful ride. We were all exhausted driving home, but I was thrilled it all came  together despite every obstacle on the planet being thrown at us. Hahaha!!

After all of the wonderful things that Grandpa has done for us, (too many to count) I am grateful we were able to give him a little something in return that he wasn’t expecting. Grandpa…there aren’t words to express our gratitude for everything you’ve done for us. But you should know that the greatest gift you’ve given us is YOU. We ADORE you and love you more than we can express. We are so lucky you are part of our lives! So…with that said, if you don’t call me the next time you are admitted to the hospital, you will be staying longer than you expected. Fair warning. >=)