The last few weeks have been very emotional and hard for my family. We found out that one of my younger cousins (my grandmother’s sister’s son’s son), Chip, who is only 13 has a cancerous brain tumor along with spots on his pine. His mom and dad noticed that he started having difficulties walking, talking and seeing and took him to the doctor as soon as they returned home to Georgia from a vacation in South Carolina (where my family is from) and were told he had cancer. Chip went under a 9 hour surgery last Wednesday in order to remove the brain tumor, however, the doctor was unable to get it all as the tumor is interwined in his brain stem. He will have to undergo chemo therapy along with radiation in order to treat the spots on his spine as well as the parts of the tumor they could not remove. Despite the news, the surgery and only being 13, the doctors have said Chip is doing remarkably well and are surprised at how talkative and good he feels after having such an intensive surgery.

Even though, Chip is doing well, he has a long road ahead of him and the future is unknown in regards to his condition. I can only imagine how his parents feel, a mother and father to Chip, Jack and Brett – Chip being the eldest – to know that their son could have and may still possibly die in the future due to this condition. On top of all this, I found out a few days ago that my great grandmother who turned 89 in July, has started to go downhill very fast. She started to haullicate a few weeks ago but in this past week, she has only wanted to eat and sleep and will not talk to anyone. We are hoping it is just a spell and she’ll come out of it but I am perparing myself for the worst. I just took a new job and I can’t afford to go out of town so soon but of course, if it is necesarry I will.

With all this going on, you can only imagine the stress my family is under which is why we need a vacation! My entire family are beach people and many of them still live by the beach in Charleston, SC, but nothing compares to the Outer Banks vacation rentals that Carolina Designs offers. I mean, I’ve been to beach houses before, my family usually will rent one for a week during the summer, but nothing they have ever rented can compare to the 5 bedroom, 7 bed Seahawk rental they offer. This house comes equip with a private pool, hot tub, 10 TVS, 3 VCRs, 2 DVD players, video library, stereo, game room with sports bar, wet bar, gas grill and is 635 yards from the ocean. Can you imagine spending a week in luxury like that…? A place that is quiet, serene and near the ocean with everything you could need or want at your fingertips. It would be great to spend time with my family, especially my great grandmother who ispossibly in her last few months of life and cousin if he’d be able to come, and soak up the last moments with some and create new ones with others. If only…