If you were to script the last month of our lives for the purposes of making a movie, anyone reviewing the plot would dismiss it as “unbelievable.” And unbelievable this last month has been. In the best way possible.

By now many of you have probably heard the story of the importance of October 7th in the Laatsch household. My grandparents were married on October 7, 1950. Four years later, on October 7, 1954, my Dad was born. When Suzanne and I were engaged last year, we noticed that it just so happened that October 7th fell on a Saturday in 2017. And so, we wanted to take advantage of life’s sweet symmetry, and add yet another important event to the October 7th calendar of events. Little did we know what else would be taking place on October 7th this year.

As you may recall in an earlier post, Lindsay told my mom that she was pregnant as we were leaving for my mom’s first oncology appointment. It was the very beginning of this long and arduous process, but it was this baby, and a wedding on the horizon, that kept us moving forward. These things gave Cathy something to look forward to as she embarked on her journey: two bright lights at the end of a very dark and seemingly endless tunnel.

They say good things come in pairs. Cathy would probably agree with this – after all, she did have twins. And for the past nine months, she was convinced that Lindsay’s baby would be born on, you guessed it, October 7th. After all, it did make sense, as Cathy’s twins have always done important things together on the same day, and at the same time. But even though the timing roughly aligned, what were the odds that it would actually happen? Turns out, 100%.

I woke up early, on the day of my wedding, to this text:

And so our wedding party was down one groomsman and one bridesmaid. An already busy day of getting ready, and taking photos, was punctuated by text updates from Lindsay and Rob. At just after six o’clock in the evening, on October 7th, 2017, Cathy Laatsch became a grandma for the first time, a mere hour after walking me down the aisle.

One of the last know photos of Cathy when she wasn’t a Grandma

Lindsay and Rob gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Hannah Catherine Heitz at 6:15 PM at just about the time that Suzanne and I walked out of our venue as husband and wife, to find a rainbow:

Cathy looked great and was thankfully feeling good too. Good enough that she snuck out of the reception to quickly meet her new granddaughter!

The next morning, we all went back to the hospital to deliver Hannah her birthday cake – which just happened to be our leftover wedding cake.

Happy 0th Birthday, Hannah!! Don’t worry she didn’t eat the whole thing by herself.

All the excitement of October 7th must have taken it’s toll on Cathy, as ever since she hasn’t been feeling so hot. They say 1 out of 3 people who undergo a stem cell transplant, hit a wall of sorts between the 2 and 3 month of recovery. Unfortunately, Cathy was one of the unlucky ones, and has been very fatigued the last month. Luckily, she seems to be turning the corner, and day by day is getting stronger. Plus, a new grandbaby is a very powerful pain reliever!

I’ll leave you for now with a few more photos, from a very momentous day:

Where’s Lindsay?

P.S. Sorry for the delay on this post. I’ll blame it on being gone on my honeymoon! Thanks for reading!