“This vacation makes us feel like we won the lottery!”
When we first meet a family, too many of them will tell us that they haven’t been able to take a vacation in years.
This never surprises us because we know that, all too often, cancer treatments can call for lengthy medical interventions, all of which take time and money away from everything else in a family’s life. Especially the fun stuff.
This was the the case with Sarah and her family (all names have been changed to protect family privacy). Her daughter, Chloe, had been receiving cancer treatment for over a decade and she was now a teenager.
“I don’t think she even remembers her last vacation. It was that long ago,” Sarah told us as we began planning their time away.
Fishing off the pier in Oak Bluffs, dinner (with live music) at Noman’s, a little shopping in Edgartown and a sunset picnic at Menemsha Beach topped their itinerary. Chloe was determined to do everything on her list and, that week, she filled her Instagram with pictures from each stop along the way.
But there was still plenty of time for doing absolutely nothing at all, on one of the prettiest islands in the country.
Every morning, Sarah would brew a hot cup of coffee at the beach house, pour it into a travel mug and then set off for a three mile walk around the unpaved roads with ocean views in the neighborhood where they were staying. Her husband, Jim, and their ten year old son, Sam, would be waiting for her when she got back to the house. They’d get out the binoculars and bird watch. Most mornings, they saw rabbits and deer staring back at them in the front yard. Usually, Chloe would still be asleep - doing what teens do best.
“I felt like I was a million miles away when I was there,” Sarah told us when she came back from her trip. “We were surrounded by nature but then we could be in town in ten minutes. It was the best of both worlds. I felt like we won the lottery!”
This is why we do what we do. Because cancer hits the whole family. Hard. And it’s impact is felt beyond just the patient. This is why these weeks are designed with the entire family system in mind.
We hope if you come on a respite week through Vineyard Havens, you feel like you’re “a million miles away” from it all - even though you’re just seven miles off the coast of Massachusetts.
We also hope that you truly feel like you’ve “won the lottery” - before, during and after your respite week away. May the happy memories you make here with us on the island bring you joy, peace and lots and lots of love.