[reason 44] early valentine

It was as close to a date as they could manage considering the circumstances. O arrived at The Claypen in West Hartford, CT and video chatted with F, who was in their hospital room at Boston Children's Hospital. O patiently - and somewhat chaotically - showed F the selection of pottery available to paint. F ultimately chose a dog bowl and O chose a mug. They both commented on how cool the heart potion jars were, so I added them to our order as well - a surprise for F. O then went over to the paints to allow F to pick out the colors they wished to use on their dog bowl. After much decision making and a little chatting, it was time for us to wrap things up and get O to an appointment, so they said goodbye. We then picked out a few other colors for the potion bottles. 

Everything was carefully packaged up for us, and after we gave our info and paid, we were on our way. 

A few days later, we brought everything needed for an afternoon of pottery painting with us to Boston. It took a while to get to the painting part of the day, as F had birthday and Valentine's gifts for O and O had Valentine gifts for F that they had to unwrap first. And, of course, there were intervening medical procedures and chats with nurses and doctors and such - none of which seemed to faze either one of them much. 

The afternoon was full of painting and watching tv and chatting and just hanging out. There was good news from the doctor - news of things heading in the right direction. And there was tiredness and pain and all the things that come with cancer and with living with chronic illnesses.

O was thankful for the "extra" time they got that day, as F's parents got to the hospital on the later side. I was thankful the pottery painting was a hit and that they'll have not only the items to enjoy after they're fired, but also the memories made that day.