Lava Cures All

If you have never had a lava cake from Chili's, you have never lived. It is a miracle medicine. The past week has been an emotionally draining one. Jimmy's dad suffered a major heart attack following surgery to remove prostate cancer. Jimmy, Taylor and I joined the entire Brady family as we practically lived in the Cardiac ICU for 8 days. After enduring an long emotional roller coaster, things are starting to look positive. The latest news, Riley is out of his induced coma, his heart and lungs are working almost entirely on their own, and he is sitting up, talking. A pure and simple miracle when you consider the doctor's devastating outlook just one week ago. I am confident that the hundreds of people praying for Riley is what allowed him to pull through. Of course, please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers, as he still has a lot of healing left to do. But, we are so grateful that he has made this much progress.

So, in the midst of the visit to Asheville, we got the news that my Grandfather had passed. Only a month after my Grandmother passed. Although they are happier where they are, together, it's still hard news to digest. And then Taylor came down with a horrible cough that caused an episode of shortage of breath. Which, in turn took our breath away. Thankfully, my 18 months of reading BabyCenter and other mom-crazy sites came in handy. We rushed her into a bathroom filled with steam and all was good. She was later diagnosed with a simple ear infection. Probably one of the scariest moments of my mommyhood to date. THEN, last night, when we got the good news about Riley, Taylor was on the path to healing her ear infection, and I had started to feel OK about Grandpa being gone, I had to call 911. YES, when you lock your keys in the car, you have to call 911 to get someone to help. I know it's a tiny thing in the scheme of things, but I have never locked my keys in the car! I guess I have a few things on my mind. Anyway, to let you know that Hilary is still Hilary -- as the police office was leaving, I asked if I could tip him as a "thank you". He gave me a strange smile and said "absolutely not." I later asked Jimmy if it was inappropriate for me to say that to an officer. He replied "Well, sort of...since it's ILLEGAL to tip cops!" How was I supposed to know? It's not like my brother is a cop or anything. Oops.

So, there you have it. The past week of the Brady life summed up into two paragraphs. The point of me telling you all of this is to share the answer for all problems. The cure all. The ultimate medicine for bad days. Lava cake. A little piece of Heaven filled with fudge, sitting on an angelic white plate covered in ice cream, hot sauce and caramel. Last night, my good friend, and one of Taylor's favorite people (as evidenced by the bear hug above), brought us dinner and lava. Thank you, Courtney. And thank you Chilis. My dear lava, I love you.