Having said that, can I be completely honest here and say that the early hours of our arrival in Walt Disney World were not as magical as I needed them to be...and as a result, I may have been a tad ornery for a few hours...OK, about 36 to be precise.
Traveling across country is not the easiest of tasks for our crew. There are wheelchairs to be checked, children to count, load and entertain on the long flight and then waiting for the wheelchairs to be unloaded, getting the children off the plane, reassembling the electronics on Benjamin's wheelchair.... Do you follow me? It gets long. Harried even. But we LOVE to travel and so we really manage all of that with a smile -- a good bit of sweat but no tears!
However, after all that, we arrived at our Disney Resort to check in and received keys to two second floor rooms with no elevator access. With my boys in their wheelchairs right there beside me. With the notes in my hand where I had called not once but TWICE to ensure this didn't happen.
And...because we traveled from the West Coast all the other guests had already checked in for the day and there were very few available rooms. After exhausting the reservation staff, the front desk staff, the manager and my entire family, they secured a short-term solution with the promise of a real fix the next day.
I got some food for my starving kids and they moved right on past it. Right past it. Wade was equally frustrated but one glimpse at the kids in the resort brought him right back where he needed to be in vacation mode, ready to have a good time.
Me. Not so much.
I tried. I had everyone up and dressed looking adorable the next morning. Trying to put on my brave face, my happy smile, and go...believing with all my heart that I would get out of this funk. The humidity hit my hair and weird things started happening to it...we loaded the bus with our four cute kids so eager to get started and all I could feel were people staring at the wheelchairs.We took a restroom break mid-morning and Benjamin and I had to wait forever for a woman to come out of the accessible stall -- the ONLY one B fits in -- and instead of rolling off of me like normal, I felt all my Mama Bear claws, growls and fangs coming to bear. Oh, I really wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this trip in the least.
Wade knew. We talked about it, both worried that the toll of the past year of surgeries was having a bad affect on me...making me hyper-sensitive to our needs as a family and transferring that sensitivity to everything around me -- even bathrooms for Pete's sake!
Our second day was at Animal Kingdom, though and it was AMAZING...I was still in my funk but so many cool things happened that day:
1. On our Safari ride, the Lion stood up, looked directly at us and ROARED repeatedly! Oh, it was soo cool!
2. A wonderful server in Restaurantasaurus (where we stopped for lunch) went over and beyond what was necessary to help our family have a wonderful meal! She told jokes to the kids, brought them each a stuffed dinosaur and that was all after she had helped us secure a table large enough in an extremely busy environment! (Never doubt the impact one kind person can have!)
3. We had slushies while waiting for the parade. Need I say more?
4. The Jammin' Jungle Parade...one of my absolute favorites of all the Disney parades....and Brer Rabbit came by for hugs! Oh, we LOVE Brer Rabbit!
5. And some serious prayer time involving getting my focus off of me and on the ONE who blessed me with this family, the ONE who cares more about my boys -- and girls -- than I could ever imagine. The ONE who could adjust my attitude for real!
I was good to go. And we had a wonderful time -- simply wonderful! And wonderful time with my family -- you know me, that is life's biggest blessing! (And there will be more pictures coming soon!)
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