On Sunday August 6th we were warmly welcomed at Tilly Mints Tea Room. Trish and her staff had our tables set with varying china patterns and teapots. One-by-one the cancer mom’s arrived and found seats with friends old and new. As is often the case in our world two of the moms had to cancel on very short notice to seek medical attention for their boys. Each of us was saddened by their absence but no one understands their struggles more than this group. Some of us have been on this journey for longer than we care to think about and some had just joined in the months before hand.
While Trish and her staff went about preparing our lunch we worked on getting reacquainted with one another. There is something very special about our time together, each of us has been through the unthinkable with our children and each of has experiences that mirror the other yet are entirely different all at the same time. The tea room has it’s own brand of slow easy comfort and so does a table full of mother’s that have been in the trenches together. There is no need to explain medical terminology or procedures, no need to mince words, no need to hold back thoughts, fears or tears. This group of ladies gets it! It didn’t take long for stressed expressions to turn into warm smiles and laughter.
We spent some time sharing about the past diagnosis and the present situation of each of our children, we filled out 3x5 cards with information about what to add to “busy bags” to occupy future chemo kids and what items we most missed at the hospital when we were surprised with our first admissions. It was a really lovely gathering Trish saw to every last detail of our time together, a beautiful meal, an inviting atmosphere, gift bags and door prizes.
She reached out to the local business community and many joined her efforts to add items to the Tilly Mint gift bags. Thank you Debbie Rasbold of Great Looks Studio for the beauty products, Jenny Ferry of Fairytale Magic Travel for the Disney items, Rich D’ Amico of Consign for Design Home Treasures for the rose bouquets. Lisa Derr made beautiful homemade soaps for us and Gina from The Body Serene Day Spa and Salon in Skippack added gift cards so that each of us could be pampered at a later date.
We could not have asked for more from our time together except for more time together.
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