That's your right, but we don't care! It's our right to mourn, rather CELEBRATE, the life of our loved one the best way we know how!
There's no better way to celebrate Mary's life than to do it at her happy place!
This picture from last October just shows how much our family loves Disney.
And to be honest I feel like Disney LOVES us!
Taking a step back....Back in October 2018, Mary was here at Disney with us. She said over and over again that it was her last trip; she just couldn't do it anymore. We told her that we wanted to come back in February and she said "You should go, I would love to but I just can't do it anymore." It was so sad to hear her say that, but Chuck and I both knew she was right.
In all accounts, the doctors expected her to live til the end of 2019. So we planned this trip, four months ago. Mary was still doing fairly well, even driving herself places; enjoying her life. We even planned on having someone stay with her to keep her company while we took a break.
When Mary started taking a turn for the worse in January, Chuck and I knew that our February trip might not happen. We were OK with that, his mom was far more important than seeing Mickey and his friends. Matter of fact, at one point, Mary said "I can't die yet, you have to go to Disney!". To say that I cried is an understatement. The trip was cancelled as far as I was concerned. I looked Mary right in the eye and said "There's no way we would ever think of going on that trip Mom. Don't you think twice about it!" Then she started crying, with the Hospice nurse joining in with her own tears. Mary said "I'm sorry, but I don't want to die alone." With most things over the past few months, I rubber here leg and said "there's no need to do anything alone mom, I'll be right by your side."
That weekend was one of thee hardest weekend's of my life! It was right up there with the 48 hours before my own mother's death. But there was no where I could have possibly been than right by her side. I did everything I could to make her as comfortable as possible. Everyone who came to see Mary, Chuck, and myself were so supportive and I couldn't imagine going through the without any of you. You all know who you are; Chuck and I are eternally grateful for your support and understanding.
When Mary passed on February 3rd, to be honest, we weren't sure if we were going to go on our trip or not. The more we thought about it and talked about it, we felt Disney was exactly where we needed to be. The kids felt the same way so we decided to take the trip.
Friday, February 8, 2019 - We're on our way!
I ran several errands today and finished all the last minute packing. We picked the kids up early and we were on our way by 3 PM. We weren't five minutes from the house when I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Not only did I feel a sense of loss in knowing wasn't going to be waiting at the rental house when we arrived I also realized that I had forgotten our Disney after Dark tickets. RUT RO RORG! A quick u-turn and we were headed back home. It took Chuck and I 30 minutes to get one of the PCs booted back up, into email, find said email, print said email, calm down, shed some tears, calm down again, take some Advil, and then get back on the road. The littlest things were setting me off and Chuck did everything in his power to help me realize that this trip was a good idea.
Saturday, February 9, 2019 - Our first day!
We made fantastic time and arrived more than an hour early to our rental house! Zoey was so excited that she got a Pink Princess room. She squealed with delight.
Zoey would have been in this picture but I just
couldn't get her to stay still long enough to take it.
He loved the big bed and played it off that was the real reeason
he wanted this room. However, a Momma knows! He wanted
to be close to his Graham Cracker!
Chuck and I always take the master bedroom and Mary always took the second master bedroom. This one is always on the second floor and has a tub, which is what she always wanted. To be honest I can see why Jesse wanted to be in here. I do have to say though the kids took turns sharing each others room. I love that they always want to be together while we are on vacation.
For our first afternoon/evening we went to Epcot. I have to say Epcot is such a fun park. I like being able to walk around and not feel so cramped like I do at the other parks. This time Epcot was featuring the "Festival of the Arts" and we sure did enjoy it. It was fun seeing all of the sidewalk drawings.
They even had one where you could get in the picture!
It's kind of hard to see here but Jesse and Zoey
are standing on the coffee spoon.
One of the things that I told Chuck we had to do if we went to Disney was we had to get a memorial photo for Mary at each of the parks. I knew exactly what I wanted and hoped that the PhotoPass folks would be willing to do it. Here at Epcot was our first try and it didn't go exactly according to plan but you have to start some where!
All in all I think it turned out pretty good.
As we walked through all the shops and Art Galleries I found myself picking up merchandise that I knew Mary would have purchased. In a couple of cases, I walked around the entire store holding said items before finally put them back with a tear in my eye. At one point, when I was walking out of Mouse Gears I teared up and said to myself, at least I hadn't realized I said it out loud until I felt Chuck rub my arms, "this is going to be harder than I thought".
During some of our walks throughout the afternoon Chuck and Jesse had to get in on some figment action. These two are just nuts over figment!
Chuck and Jesse wearing their figment hats!
The Odyssey building was open for the Festival and we were to hang out for a while, watch an art show, and try some treats. The one Chuck got was a white chocolate painters pallet on none other than Figment!
Chuck's white chocolate masterpiece!
On our way to dinner Chuck and Zoey wanted to get their pictures taken with the Living Statues! Look what one of them had???? Figment!
For dinner we went to La Hacienda, the outside Mexican restaurant. Of course, Chuck and I had the La Hacienda dinner for two. If you've never had this meal, oh boy, you have to try it! It is DELISH! Steak, who doesn't love steak....pst if you don't so sorry...more for me!, some type of BBQ or smoked chicken, chorizo, veggie medley, black beans, rice (we never eat it), and THE ABSOLUTE BEST corn you will ever have. The waiter looked at Chuck like he was crazy when he asked for a side of corn to go with this dish. He says "Sir the dish comes with corn." Chuck says "I know, it's that good!" LOL! I couldn't believe it but he ate every bit of that corn and couldn't wait to have more!
Zoey has like one bite of a chicken finger and Jesse had a 12 oz steak to himself. He was in heaven and LOVED IT! I love that my little man loves steak. Chuck isn't a big steak eater so I love it that Jesse will share some "cow" with me, as he puts it.
Our final ride of the night was Test Track. We absolutely love this ride and try to get it in two to three times a day when we are there. What a surprise I had my hands covering Jesse's face! It never fails when I put my hands up (high, low, medium), they are always covering someone's face! Next time I think I'll just fold my hands and try to be a good girl!
Just as we were heading out for the night Chuck spotted a special PhotoPass where they wre doing an artistic flare with the picture. To be honest, I really wasn't sure what he was talking about. All I knew is that I just wanted to find my bed, or the closet bench to fall fast asleep! When I saw what they were doing I was intrigued and said "FINE, you win, let's go". After several "Yeahs!' from the kids we were off to stand in line. Luckily the line moved rather quickly and 10 minutes later it was our turn to get our picture.
I'd say it was worth the wait!
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