The family returned Sunday from a fun and restful week in Maui. Jordan learned to hula, make a lei, and build a great sand castle. She mostly loved going in the pool with her family. Luc shredded the waves again on a surf board, Nettie loved snorkeling out at Honoloa Bay, and I challenged myself to a 35 mile bike ride, climbing over 3,500 feet with an action advneture camp on the east side of the Island.

Perhaps going under the knife for two brain surgeries did it. I imagine that would make most anything seem pretty tame to me. Or perhaps it’s a side effect of the chemotherapy. Or maybe it’s just the girl she’s become. Jordan loves a good adrenaline rush. That’s right. She’s a thrill-seeker. We know this because Thursday she tagged along with her brother and our friends James and Michael Muro to Universal Studios.

She is on her third pair of pajamas for the day, leading me to think she is the spawn of Hugh Hefner. She seems to have pjs for every hour, every occasion and every mood-swing.She walks pidgeon-footed onto the patio, a crooked smile broadening onto a bright face. Each step is calculated, like the careful foot to foot of a tight-rope walker. The nerves are coming back in her legs, but her reflexes are still diminished.

Jordan is doing so very well. The wheelchair is collecting dust. When she wears her splints, she can walk across the room without her walker, much to the consternation of her therapists. But most noticeable of all, she looks healthy. She is flush with color and her eyes sparkle. She’s regained some weight (but her legs are still quite thin) and she talks all the time. Actually, she chatters like a magpie.

When it was story time, she was the first to sit down on the floor in front of the teacher. She sat cross-legged, folding her hands in her lap. When the end of the storytelling neared, and her classmates fidgeted, attention waning, she sat with her hands still folded in her lap. Her eyes engaged the teller. Her brows shifted to project her connection with the the story. And when the last words were spoken, she was often the last one sitting, eager for another story.