You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

The Return to Atlanta

Road trips can be fun.  Well, that is for me,  if  you have a talker in the car.

Greg and Kyle have never been much for talking so when we were deciding whether to fly or drive for our return trip to Atlanta, I knew the answer was simple... fly and rent a car for the three weeks we would be there. That is, until I saw the prices for renting these days.  What the heck are all these added fees?  They are more expensive than the car rental!  Guess it's been a long time since I rented a car.

So we drove.... for ten hours.

But two things made this trip fly by.  One, the "new" (and I say that with much love in my heart) Kyle, talks so much more to me now.  Our five hour trips to NJ fly by, so what's five more hours?
A cake walk.

And two, we were going to Atlanta!  "Home  of the Braves", home to the best darn peaches you'll ever taste, home to over 70 streets, road, circles, courts, etc that are named Peachtree (yes over 70!), but especially, home to Shepherd Center, where our hearts embrace the best rehabilitation and the best therapists for brain and spinal cord injuries that you'll ever encounter.

Kyle's Discharge on October 24, 2014

Kyle's last day of therapy two months ago
included hanging out with his pet therapy
friends, listening to some music entertainment
at lunch time, and of course his "graduation"
send off, from the families we met, and from his beloved therapists.

.

“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.” 
― Frederick Buechner

Ryan and Kyle had Trucks and Patriots in common.  Ryan went home to Florida to his adored children that he painfully missed so much.  I hope to see Ryan and Brenda again someday, as they are always in my thoughts.

Coincidentally, the Pathways program brought in a band to play for patients and
families on the day Kyle was being discharged

Pizza for lunch and then hitting the road!

Kyle's dedicated therapy team.

A very well deserved "Certificate of Achievement"

♪ "Hello, hello... I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello" ♪

One of the last things we did that final week was to go to the top of the Westin Hotel and enjoy the view from the revolving restaurant.  These photos are a fitting good bye and now a hello again to our home away from home that was for over 4 months.

And so here we are once again in Atlanta, with a few days of surgery, and then recovery, and then two weeks of therapy.  Surgery and rehab photos coming tomorrow.