by Sarah | Feb 20, 2017 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, The Adult, The Teenager
A few years ago we longed for this day.
For the past year we’ve dreaded it.
This past Friday arrived. Dreaded, anticipated, excitedly awaited, tearfully faced…
The teen got in his car and drove hundreds of miles away to the land he calls home.
I have been a bit of a mess through the whole thing – and yet I’m proud of how I’ve handled it all. Because, knowing his aversion to overly emotional stuff, I’ve kept my cool, and only been a bit more huggy than usual.
We had our time to talk, and I was emotionally exhausted on the day he left, and been glad for the preoccupation of plenty of other things since he’s been gone.
But there are those times.
Those brief moments…
When it overwhelms.
When I cry.
The empty room.
Soon it will be cleared out and transformed into my home office again.
But it isn’t yet. There are still pieces of him in there.
And we all still pause outside the door expecting to hear Disney music emanating from within.
The quiet nights.
Nightly he would hang out with me after everyone else was in bed…we’d watch a Disney show of some kind, or Star Trek, or just talk with some random show on. No matter what, the boy would be chatting, annoying, teasing, something…
I still sit at my desk and glance at the door expecting him to walk through the door.
It’s the frequent reminding of myself that he isn’t going to walk through that door that hurts.
I know in time I will adjust.
I know that he is happy.
I know that I am incredibly proud.
But oof…
This empty nest thing hurts…even when you have two more sitting around pestering you.
by Sarah | Feb 9, 2017 | All About Denver, All About Family, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, The Teenager
To have heard Denver tell it way back in 2014, Kennedy made a “stupid” wish.
How could he, a 16 year old, ever expect to have fun at Disney World?
This picture he almost appears to be smiling, but he wasn’t. 1, because he hates pictures, and 2, because we were at Disney.
Can I tell you how much magic Disney World holds?
It holds enough to take a teen so dead-set against going to Disney, and in three little days turning him into a die-hard Disney fan.
It turned him so quickly and completely that he wanted to change his wish, but didn’t think he could. We were all slightly giddy when his original wish fell through and we were able to return – because of course the teen picked Disney for his second wish.
From that point on, all Denver has wanted is to move to Florida and work for the mouse.
A week ago today, his dream came true.
Denver is moving to Florida. He’ll be working for Disney – and you’ll be able to find him at Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.
From a Make-A-Wish kid…into a Disney Cast Member.
Living proof that dreams can come true.
(And let’s not talk about the fact that the next day as he was on the phone with Disney, Give Kids the World Village also called to request an interview for a job there, as well)
I’m so excited for him, it’s easy to hold off the tears (mostly).
He is the inspiration to all of us in this house that we can achieve our dreams.
I can’t wait to follow the kid to the land of sunshine and magic.
For now, I’ll rest happy knowing one of us made it out of the land of winter.
And look forward to visiting him as often as humanly possible.
by Sarah | Apr 7, 2016 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
This year when we went to Universal we found this guy.
He was super friendly and even nuzzled Kennedy a bit…and didn’t try to eat her head…
Much.
Honestly, it took some convincing to get the kids to go see the raptor, and I was more excited than they were to go see it (and Molly flat-out refused).
It was one of the coolest moments we shared outside of Hogwarts, though.
The raptor was impressive, and the calls it made were perfection.
I was so geeked out, I could hardly think, but it was still so awesome. I can’t wait to go see him again.
5.5 years until 2021!
Not that I’m counting, or anything…
by Sarah | Mar 17, 2016 | All About Family, All About Molly, All of Us, Autism, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, Special Needs
2014 – Disney, Universal, Make-A-Wish…My dear sweet Molly.
Oh, how she loved so much about the parks.
The princesses, the speedway (because she can drive!), the ice cream (because, DUH).
Just about everything was just AWESOME.
There was one thing that held her back.
One thing that kept her sitting on the sidelines about 50-75% of the time.
She was afraid.
Of the rides. Of the roller coasters. Of anything that left the ground in any fashion.
Lucky for her, her brother wasn’t too keen on the rides either. They sat out most of the rides.
Fast forward one year.
2015.
The year started out much like the year before.
Molly holding back.
Then something changed.
Something small.
She noticed the Barnstormer. She was afraid, but jealous of us going on all these rides and coming off super excited.
And so she took a chance.
She rode the ride.
And came off exhilarated.
She wouldn’t ride one that went upside down, but she went on every roller coaster from that point on. We went on the Barnstormer three times. She even, on the last night, went on Space Mountain. It terrified her, but she ended up loving it.
Little by little she went from Molly the Meek to Molly the Daredevil(ish). It was so much fun watching her emerge from that little ball of fear into eagerness.
She admitted after our last roller coaster (Space Mountain), that every ride scared her, but that was half the fun.
Molly stepping out of her comfort zone is a huge deal.
So thank you, Disney. Universal. For bringing out the daredevil in this one. It’s awesome. You’re awesome.
by Sarah | Mar 3, 2016 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Me, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
There was one little detail Denver didn’t bother to tell us.
Of course, this was during the time he didn’t speak to us much at all, so that shouldn’t be surprising.
But, still, he didn’t mention that he didn’t choose Disney as his initial wish for one reason, and one reason alone.
He was certain he would hate it.
It would be stupid.
He was sixteen, what did he care about a land that all began with a mouse?
And then…
And then he went. He remained stoic through a good portion of it, but yet there were smiles.
Here and there.
Somewhere in that time, in that brief week of time – it happened.
He fell in love.
With the land that started with a mouse.
With the land he now calls home.
With the dream.
And I say we are a Disney loving family, but he is the king of it all.
Disney has transformed him in ways I had only hoped would happen.
He is focused, and driven (though not on school – that’s another story). He is ready to move on and out, and head back home.
And if I could, I would be right there with him.
It’s funny how Disney works that way. How it takes a teenager who’s too big for his britches, and too cool for such things…and makes him a believer.
Disney was special to me before – now it’s even more so because it brought my kid back to me.
by Sarah | Feb 18, 2016 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
We once again had the mixed blessing of a Make-A-Wish trip to Disney and Universal. How it came about wasn’t intentional, in fact the wish was originally something much different.
When we had our first meeting with Make-A-Wish Denver thought he’d hate Disney, that Kennedy’s wish would be awful, and he’d be so bored. His wish was to meet Sir Patrick Stewart. We were warned that celebrity wishes were difficult and took a long time to fulfill. So we waited.
I planned Kennedy’s trip in the few months we had, and we ended up going in pretty blind.
We had an amazing trip, as I’ve documented here (and will continue to do so), and all too soon we returned home. Although Denver returned home a changed teen, we thought that was it.
A few months later I got the fateful email – Denver’s original wish to meet Sir Patrick Stewart would not be able to come to fruition. He was working 27 hour days on the set of his new show and they couldn’t make it happen. Did Denver want to change his second wish?
Boy, did he ever. He wasn’t sure Make-A-Wish could make it happen because we’d just been, but if we could, could we return to Disney?
Turns out, they could, and so we were going to return to Disney!
Denver wasn’t done there, though.
To top of the already magical wish of a Disney vacation – he wanted to invite his grandparents (only my mother went).
And then he wanted to take it a step further.
He wanted to completely surprise his sisters.
So for seven months we kept the secret, barely at times.
The story of the reveal is one for another day, but suffice it to say, it went over very well and we made the amazing return to Disney.
We did more, saw more. Had better times, and some not-so-great times. We went on every coaster, sometimes twice. We took chances, we met princesses and dined with them.
We met villains and Eeyore and Mad Hatters.
The return was a breathtaking celebration, the fate of our family as a Disney family sealed. The future goals of our son irrevocably changed.
Once again their is so much to tell. So much that will come out over the course of the next few months. I’ll continue our stories from the first year and add in those from the second.
Needless to say. If we weren’t before – we are a Disney family now.
A few years ago we longed for this day.
