At the beginning of this year, my Aunt Lynn started treatment to beat a recurrence of the breast cancer she first beat twenty-five years ago. Throughout the surgeries, procedures, and chemotherapy treatments, she kept up an amazingly positive attitude, always finding the bright side of every negative side effect. When her chemo treatments were plotted out, we realized that the baby would likely arrive within a few weeks of her final round. We knew that the end of May would bring a lot to celebrate.

My mom, cousin Leah, and I wanted to treat my aunt to a fun girls’ day in honor of Lynn finishing chemo, and we thought an afternoon tea would be perfect. We decided to bring Annabel, and she was thrilled to be included. She’s very into the Fancy Nancy books right now, so she was extremely excited to dress up and basically live out the plot of one of the books.

me and my girl

lynn, leah, heather

Annie, Gramma

It was the first time I’ve left James, but I knew he’d be fine with Mike. I was so happy to be out wearing regular clothes! It was great to be able to celebrate my aunt, and to also be able to eat without worrying about my blood sugar or vomiting. It really cannot be emphasized enough how great it is to not constantly be thinking about food!

cheers

Annabel also thrived being out with the grown-ups, away from newborn baby land. The waiter brought her a special glass of chocolate milk, and we put it in a tea cup so she could, “drink it fancy.”

pinkies up

She also enjoyed the dessert portion of the tea (but who wouldn’t?):

tea time

And she kept us entertained by telling us stories that she “read” from an imaginary book:

"reading" a story

But, she couldn’t wait to get home and tell James all about “special girls’ tea.”

telling James all about Tea

My aunt has a few more steps in her cancer battle, but hopefully the hardest parts are behind her. We’ll be cheering her on – Annabel and I have big plans for many celebrations with Lynn in the future.