by Sarah | Apr 5, 2016 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Home, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Redefining Perfect
March was a sucktastic month, I’ve made no secret of that.
But it’s over now.
With some carnage around us, we are gathering the pieces together, and re-evaluating some things.
The teen is graduating soon and moving on to bigger and better (and warmer) things. He’s pulling up stakes and moving down south to pursue a dream.
Whether it’s me turning 40, hubby turning almost-50, the teen leaving home, or just the hell of a month we went through – we are starting to look at where we are ourselves vs. where we want to be.
We’ve begun to dream big.
Bigger than we’ve allowed ourselves to dream in a while.
Right now it’s all pipe dreams and wishes,
but as Walt Disney said – “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Now all we have to do is muster some courage and pursue them all.
We needed a spark of hope, and we’ve given it to ourselves.
It’s kind of terrifying, and so very exciting.
I’d gotten in a rut, and sort of beat down.
It feels really good to dream again.
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 | 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.
by Sarah | Dec 31, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Home, All About Indiana, All About Kennedy, All About Marriage, All About Me, All About Molly, All About Ripley, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
Tonight is a night of reflection. When we all look back on the year that’s past and examine it, and then look forward to the coming year and anticipate what’s coming.
A breath of hope.
Of change.
Of life.
To look back on my 2015 I can sum it all up with one simple word.
More so in the last 1/3 of the year, but definitely, all around, chaos.
There was much good to be had – Disney (again), getting my son back from the land of emo teenager, book releases, returning to the community theater stage (w/ my whole family, no less) good moments with friends and family.
There were also rough times – my dad’s downward spiral into some pretty bad Parkinson’s symptoms, working triple time at the day job, my publisher closing, and some pretty hurt feelings on my part (sorry, vagueposting that).
The last third of the year it felt like I couldn’t even take a breath we were so insanely busy. Between the play, Disney, work life and home life, I got hardly any writing done, hardly any breathing done.
Now it’s time to step back and take a breath. To look to the upcoming year with hope and excitement.
I see more chaos in the coming year for certain. I see myself setting more lofty goals for myself. I see big changes for my family’s dynamic as one bird flies from the nest. I see growth for my book sales, and moving closer to my dream of being able to stay at home again. I see excitement as more of my Buffalo family moves to Indiana.
So I welcome 2016 with a certain level of anticipation and calm acceptance.
I look forward to whatever it brings me.
by Sarah | Oct 8, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Cystic Fibrosis, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Special Needs
The past four months have been chaotic and filled with a secretive sort of excitement.
Denver has us keeping a rather large secret from the girls.
We are returning to Disney this fall!
I have been scrambling for dining reservations, suitcases, and other necessities that I have to sneak into the house and hide from the girls.
Because they do NOT know.
Part of Denver’s wish at Make A Wish was to keep this whole thing a big, fat, humongous secret from his two little sisters.
So we are whispers, sneaking, and super secret planning and count-downing. Texting ideas instead of saying them out loud.
Oh, we’ve nearly been caught several times…but any time the girls hear Disney or we discuss anything in front of them, it’s “in 2021”. (For the record, we are planning a trip in 2021 that will be larger in scale and involve good friends along for the ride)
2021 is a great cover story when we get caught.
But we are going back…and the teen and I are making a serious effort for real planning.
We have secured all the reservations we REALLY wanted (getting into the parks early! Yay!). We’ve scoured maps and discussed what was missed last year and will not be missed again. We’ve supplied ourselves with a bunch of pins for trading (and keeping!!). We’ve watched and re-watched all the Disney shows to be had (thank you, Destination America) until our DVR broke.
In 20 days from now, a limo will arrive bright and early while the girls are still in bed. We will have everything packed and ready to go and we’ll burst into the girls room yelling that they’re late for school and rush them outside to the waiting limo!!
The excitement is palpable.
The countdown is a way to get us through the rough days.
And there have been a lot of them these days.
Thank goodness for the mouse.
by Sarah | Aug 27, 2015 | All About Family, All About Molly, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
For a few years now, Molly has insisted from her back-seated position that she can drive. There is no doubt, no quiver, no way to dispute her surety that she can drive. She’s ready to beat Denver to the punch (although he’s just finally signed up for Driver’s Ed, so she won’t).
So imagine her consummate joy when partway through Tomorrowland she discovered there were CARS she could DRIVE!!!
Oh my heavens, we absolutely HAD to go and do it.
And go we did.
Molly wasn’t too far off. She can drive. Yes, there were rails to follow which surely helped her out some, but overall she was a pro.
She was so happy, so thrilled, to be driving.
When we got out on that road she would have been happy had it never ended.
And so would have I.
The joy on her face was incomparable.
Indescribable.
And no one dares tell her she can’t drive anymore (well, except for that legal issues of age).
March was a sucktastic month, I’ve made no secret of that.
We’ve begun to dream big.
