Embracing Life

I wanted to write a moving and inspirational post about celebrating my two-year post-transplant milestone. (I also wanted to post a nice family picture, where everyone was looking at the camera, the twins did not have to be separated because they were hitting each other, the shorter boy on the right was not squeezing his brother's stomach too tightly, and I did not have a glowing bulb of sunlight shining brightly on my lady parts, but well... you know... that's life.) Instead I will share one of my favorite pictures of this day. We had wanted to do an outdoor autumn photo shoot with my family (grandparents included). It was scheduled for the end of September in Chicago. So of course, I bought (matching) long-sleeved shirts for the boys, had a pretty (color-coordinating) sweater picked out for my girl, Keith was going to wear his grey pullover, and I lovingly pulled out my tights and boots for what I thought was going to be a cool and beautiful fall day. It was 88 degrees...

I debated bringing this up, but decided it's my blog, I'll write if I want to. ;) I had a kidney donor. She was approved as a tissue match and was set to come into the hospital for the final round of testing. Let's just say it didn't work out. I don't know the details, but she backed out. She has her reasons, which I am sure are valid, but she did not share them with me. I just hope and pray that they are not serious health reasons or something of that nature. To say I was shocked is an understatement. A few dear co-workers offered to go beat her up, jokingly of course. Keith said it happened because it gives me more time with the kids this summer. I don't see it that way. Since my levels are up enough to push off surgery for a couple of months, I would have had that extra summer time anyway. A friend told me once that she doesn't believe things happen for a reason, that they just happen.  I however, think things do happen for a reason. Not good reason...

Better late than never! ;) One of the things that I love about Disney are all the things to do. Not just the parks, but the many other fun things that you can do when at the most magical place on earth.  The last time we went to Disney, we had full days at all the parks, and no time for anything else.  That really didn't work for my family. My kids like their downtime.  So on day three, we made plans to do something totally different.  My parents, sister, and her kids chose to rent a car and drive to Clearwater to see a famous dolphin and check out the beach.  My family stayed behind and made a day of checking out the other things Disney has to offer.  After a relaxing morning and breakfast (it was nice not having to rush to get to the bus!), we walked down the path to Port Orleans - Riverside, the other resort nearby.  We checked out the pool, although it was still a little cool to swim.  The kids played at the playground, then we...

So life got away from me before I could finish blogging about our amazing family trip to Disney. Here is day 2! Beautiful view outside our hotel We started off early, heading to Hollywood Studios. There was a 30 minute wait in line, where Colin lost his magicband (because nothing says family vacation like losing your ticket into your first park!) He had left it over by the gift shop. Thankfully I had already written my cell phone number on the inside, however, the gift shop attendant had not looked! Our first stop was the Muppets in 3D. Connor and Keith sneaked off to do the Star Wars Tours (twice!). The rest of us put on our 3D glasses for some Muppet magic! I do have to say, one of the best parts of the Magicbands is the ability to book your fast passes well in advance. We knew what three things we "had" to do and what time to be there, and the rest of the day was just wandering and doing other fun things.  We had fast passes for the Frozen Sing-a-lo...