After James was born and we learned about his health issues and disabilities, Stacy and I told ourselves that we were going to do our best to give him the best possible life he could have. At that time, we weren’t sure how much time he would have on this Earth. We still don’t know. Nobody knows.
We started talking last year about taking James on a vacation, but with James’ health issues these past several months, we weren’t sure if he would be able to handle it. We kept going back in forth. “Should we go?” “Should we stay home?” Then we remembered about our pact…to give James the best possible life. We wanted him to experience more than just home, school, and hospitals. As a matter of fact, I think we were all in need of a change of scenery.
Stacy had booked a hotel back in March and made sure that we could cancel if we felt James wasn’t healthy enough to travel. The hotel had a 24-hour cancellation policy. Okay, so we could wait until the day before to make our final decision.
I assume you read the title of this post, so you already know that we went to Nashville. James had been doing well, so we said, “lets do this!” Stacy and I had taken several trips to Nashville before James came along. We started by going to Fan Fair (now CMA Fest) which is their big annual country music festival back in 2002 maybe. Nashville was always a good time, and now it was James’ turn to experience it.
This trip was a little different than the road trips Stacy and I had taken in the past. We felt James was more stable at night while he was sleeping so we decided to drive at night hoping that James would sleep most of the way. We left last Sunday night at around 8:00 pm, and guess who was wide awake 2 hours after we left?
Stacy thought that maybe the lights of the passing cars might have been keeping him awake so she put sunglasses on him. Problem solved. He fell asleep shortly after that.
We got to Nashville around 4:30 am and to the hotel just before 5:00 am. James did manage to sleep most of the way once we got away from the city lights. Stacy got a bit of sleep, too.
I was tired from driving all night, but we still had to unload the car!
After we got checked in and unpacked, we were able to get a few hours of sleep before we could relax and enjoy ourselves. Our first stop after we woke up? Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, of course!
Our vacations normally revolve around food. We’re not the only ones, are we? There are so many good places to eat in Nashville. We have a few favorites that we always go to when we’re in town, but we always try to find someplace new to check out.
We had lunch on Tuesday at the Aquarium Restaurant at Opry Mills Mall with some people that Stacy had met through special needs groups on Facebook. Stacy and I have wandered the mall on our previous trips, but this was our first time eating at this restaurant. It was pretty cool with the aquariums that they built into the restaurant.
Wednesday we had breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. This was our first time here, and OMG. Totally going back!
Dinner Wednesday night was at our all-time favorite restaurant, The Loveless Café. One of our usual stops when we’re in Nashville. I highly recommend it. I can never get enough of their biscuits.
On Thursday, we ventured downtown to check out the Johnny Cash Museum and had lunch at the Wildhorse Saloon. Another one of our usual stops whenever we are in town. They have probably the best Monte Cristo sandwich that I have ever had.
After lunch at the Wildhorse, it was time for me to try to get a few hours of sleep. We started our journey back home at around 8 pm, and I happened to catch a nice sunset over downtown as we were leaving.
We got home around 4:30 am, started to unpack the car, and caught the sunrise:
Well, we did it. We had our first real vacation as a family. It was a short vacation, but it was good. I think we all needed a little break from our reality. James did pretty well, even though it was a bit hot for him. Daytime temperatures were in the high 80s and low 90s. Pro tip: if you have a kid that doesn’t handle heat well and you have to be out in the heat, even for a short period of time, battery operated fans that clip onto strollers and wheelchairs do help.
Other than the heat, the only other thing that really sucked for James was that he was unable to enjoy all of the good foods that Nashville has to offer. I guess he’s never been able to eat so he really doesn’t know what he’s missing. As far as we know, his nose works so maybe he was able to at least enjoy the smell of the food.
