My Biggest Fan

This one is hard and you know how much I like to keep this blog my happy place.  But life isn't always happy and often the hard moments are what make you the person you are, make you stronger, and make you appreciate all the happiness that comes along.

On January 18th, I lost my biggest fan, my Mom.  I didn't share here (again, a happy place) but she'd been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year.  She fought hard and basically told the cancer and her body to knock it off cause she was too busy and had too much to do for this illness to inconvenience her.  And for about a year that worked. In October she had a complication that required surgery and therapies that took a lot out of her.  But her mission was to take the family to Disney World for Christmas and she refused to let the disease (or her doctors) stop her.  And we have amazing memories as a result of her grit and determination to not let this illness stop her from living life to the fullest.  Following Christmas she let the doctors get back to work on her and continued to push through her therapies and tried to get stronger.  Unfortunately God had other plans and needed her in his choir of angels sooner than we thought. 

It's been a sad couple of weeks and my heart aches in the spot that she filled.  Being with friends and family was true comfort because it showed me how many lives she touched and how much love she gave and received.  My family truly has no words for the kindness, generosity and overwhelming outpouring of condolences we received.  While I suspect I'll never truly get over this loss, the love from everyone around me, my closest friends, my wonderful family, even acquaintances who surprised me with their kind words because they lost a parent, have helped ease the pain.

Mom truly was my biggest fan.  She encouraged me from a very young age when I wanted to be a writer.  She'd read my stories, was my constant editor, and wanted me to explore this passion.  Growing up, money was tight but I remember in middle school when I begged to apply for an exclusive writing camp at the University of Pittsburgh.  She agreed and when I was accepted, I was thrilled and she was proud of me.  To this day, I'm not sure how she found the tuition money, but that summer I developed my skills and Mom couldn't wait to read it all.  And I looked forward to showing her the fruits of my labor and her sacrifice.

Mom was proud of this blog too.  She emailed the link to all her friends and even printed out entries to share with my Dad and Grandma so they could enjoy my stories and musings (and poke fun at Dave about the mice in the attic.  It'd be easy to walk away from this blog because I would often think of her when writing these entries--wondering if she'd laugh at my jokes the way I wanted her to or hoping she'd forgive me for not telling her a particular story when we spoke on the phone because I wanted to get it just right for the blog--and frankly it's painful knowing she won't read these and call me to talk about the stories anymore.  But if I walked away, what would that mean for her memory and all the support and encouragement she gave me?

No words can express the pain I feel, but neither are there any words for the love my mother's given me.  And I hope I continue to make her proud as she watches over me and reads this blog, laughing and smiling.

OMG We Went to Disney World!

I've been recovering from awesomeness (or Disney Magic), that's why this post is delayed.  Or it's what I'm telling myself.

We had an awesome time in Orlando with my family.  On Christmas Day, Dave and I flew into Charlotte, rented a car and headed to my sister's house to meet her family and my parents.  We had some food, packed up the cars and then headed out on the first leg of our trip.  We stopped in Georgia and spent the night.  We were a little punchy from the holiday, the travel and the rain we drove through.  The kids in particular were a bit crazy.

The next morning we geared back up and hit the road again.  The drive wasn't bad but our GPS decided that after 5 years functioning mostly in the Northeast it couldn't handle being that close to the equator and kept losing satellite signal. For like 10-30 minutes at a time.  Luckily we were following Nate and Amy and had printed directions so we never got lost (except for that one time that Amy told us to take the wrong exit but technically we weren't lost, just wrong).

Can we talk for a second about traffic in Orlando?  Nate, growing up in Florida, had always mentioned Florida drivers but I never really understood what that meant. OH MY GOD THEY"RE CRAZY!  The sheer magnitude of traffic was nuts, no matter what time of day (I do realize that we were there at the busiest time of the year) but the blatant disregard for other drivers and/or basic traffic laws was insane.  At one point we watched several cars--at different points on the highway--cross the grassy median to get on the highway in the opposite direction because they didn't want to drive all the way to the exit.  Dave even mentioned he was surprised no one tried to go through the guardrails to do it.  Then we rolled up on an accident where someone crashed into the guardrail.  We can only assume they were trying to go over it and go in the other direction.

Despite the crazy drivers, we got to our rental and it was amazing.  Seriously, if you ever travel to Orlando and want to stay off the Disney properties, visit Florida Sun Vacation Homes (thanks Felise and Nick for the recommendation!)  We had everything we needed, including 5 bedrooms (with en suite baths), a kitchen, private pool, game room, everything.  This made it easy for us to eat breakfast at the house each morning and pack snacks for the parks.

Our first day was at Epcot and it was awesome. Though it did rain at one point, I must admit my Eagle Scout came through for me.  A week or so before, Dave bought ponchos for us and packed them in our bags so we wouldn't have to run around to a gift shop in the parks if the clouds let loose.  So while we were drinking our way through the countries (me on my second margarita and Dave on his third beer) (at maybe 1 or 1:30 pm), it started to sprinkle and then come down a little heavier.  Dave suggested we stop and put on our ponchos.  So we huddled under a tree while one of us held the alcohol, the other put on a poncho.  By the time we were adequately covered it started to pour.  Like a serious storm.  Happy little campers with out ponchos and drinks, we started to make our way towards the UK which was where the rest of my family was hunkering down from the rain.  On our way I looked up and we were just about the only people a) not squeezed under some sort of roof and b) not running like mad to get to a roof and squeeze under it.  We made our way to the pub and peered in the window where we spied Nate. He was getting a beer at the bar and when he saw Dave he pointed to his beer, basically asking Dave if he needed one.  Dave pointed to his and we took a seat at the outdoor chairs since we were protected from getting too drenched.  The rain stopped after about 20 minutes or so and we gathered up the rest of our crew.

Yeah, Amy, JR & I all in the phone booth.  Sibling Love.

Donde esta Donald?

We ate at Via Napoli in Italy and it was phenomenal.  We'd gotten reservations for the Candlelight Processional so they treated us right and made sure we enjoyed ourselves and got out on time for the show without feeling rushed.

After the show, some people headed back to the house (the rain had brought with it some cold and though most of us had sweatshirts, we weren't really prepared for the drop in temperature).  The rest of us (Nate, JR, Dave, Elyse, Aidan and I) did a few rides, including the Test Track which was really cool.  They take you through a simulation of car safety tests and then spit you out on a track at about 65 miles per hour.  It was awesome, although I did lose my voice (don't worry, I found it...10 days later) from the screaming.  I love this picture because Elyse's face is more of disgust or "Ew, what's that smell?" than fear.

The next day we hit up Magic Kingdom.  It was crowded and crazy but totally awesome.

We spent a lot of time in Tomorrowland (hello, Space Mountain!) but also did the Jungle Book Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean (ZOMG I love Pirates!  And can we talk about how much Johnny Depp really does look like Jack Sparrow?  I mean, the ride came first, so they really did an awesome job finding someone to play Jack that looks so much like the original.)  But back to Jungle Book Cruise--our tour guide was hilarious--Trevor? Tristan?  Funny guy (plus we got the best seats since we got to board first).  Abi was a hoot--when Trevor/Tristan told her to duck so the pygmies wouldn't spear her, she seriously ducked!

We paused during the day to have dinner at Chef Mickey, which was great.  We celebrated my parents' anniversary (40 years this April), which included dancing from the characters and a cute plate of cupcakes.  The kids loved getting the character's autographs and it made for an easy way to get pictures (rather than standing in line for 20 minutes like I did for Pooh Bear and Tigger).

This was the only full costumed character Abi would even get near.  She was ok with Mulan and looking at all the characters, but the animals were a little big and intimidating.  Since Pluto was being goofy, she was too tickled to be afraid.

My parents had enough after two days of parks so they took a break on the third day while Amy, Nate, Dave, Aidan, Abi and I went to Hollywood Studios.  JR, Jen and Elyse went to Dade City Wild things where they got to play with a leopard cub.

Hollywood Studios was fun--you can do the whole park in a day (or less).  Because we got there early, we received special FastPasses for the stunt show, which was pretty cool.  We rode the Star Tours ride which was a lot of fun, especially because Aidan (and by proxy Abi) is into Star Wars pretty good as a result of the Clone Wars cartoon.  Aidan did Jedi training, we watched the Indian Jones stunt show, did the back lot tour (although the sound system was busted so while we rode the tour, we didn't really get any information), saw the Muppet 3-D movie and ended the night with a ride on the Rockin Roller Coaster. It was fantastic.  Aidan was fine while we were standing in line, but just when we could actually see the coaster (it's indoors) and watch it go from zero to 60 right next to us, he started to get increasingly terrified.  And if I'm being honest, so was I.  My heart was pounding and I was getting anxious because I don't love roller coasters, but I always go on them.  But this one was fantastic.  I actually think it could have been longer.  And when we came to a stop, the first thing I heard from Aidan behind me was, "That was AWESOME!  Let's do it again!" (And if it hadn't been an 80 minute wait in line, we probably would have.)

Aren't you a little old to be getting your picture taken with characters?

The last day, JR, Jen and Elyse hit up Sea World before flying out, while Amy, Nate and the kids went to Animal Kingdom, followed by Downtown Disney.
 

We stayed back with Mom and Dad and relaxed since we'd be driving all the way back to Charlotte the next day.  We had a chance to hang out, play cards and then the four of us caught up with my uncle Chuck and his wife Lori for dinner, which was nice.

The next day we got up early and hit the rode to get back to Charlotte for New Year's Eve.  Exhausted, no one stayed up to watch the ball drop.  Apparently there were fireworks in the neighborhood but I didn't hear them given my Disney-induced sleep coma.  In the morning, Dave and I headed out to the airport and flew home.

It was an amazing trip and I'm so glad we got to do it as a family.  I would love to visit Disney again (maybe in a less crowded time), but nothing would top this particular trip.

Presents

I do have tales and pictures from Disney, but first I've been waiting to share all the crochet projects I've been making.  These were all Christmas gifts, so now I can finally show you since the recipients are cuddled with their presents now.

I could not stop making this pattern. In fact, I have blue and pale blue yarn (Lion Brand Homespun) to make another one because I love the pattern so much.  It works up so quickly and the yarn is very soft making the blanket super cozy and warm.  The one on the left was for Dave's uncle and aunt, Jeff and Jo.  I was making it while at Dave's parent's house and Madaline was so excited about it I decided to make them the one on the right.  The middle one is actually the first one I made and I gave that to our friends Kate and Andy because they rock and have a purple bedroom.  (Andy's hardcore that way).  The pattern was free from the Joann Fabrics' website and I think it was called Diagonal Throw.

This one I made for my cousin, Angela.  I loved the variegated red and black yarn and since those are her school colors, I thought she'd appreciate it.  It's fluffy and soft, a Sensations boucle yarn. It's just a square (granny square style but without changing colors or yarns).  Perfect for Ange to cuddle up and study. 

This pattern was on the back of a ball of Deborah Norville Collection Everyday yarn, so I picked up enough cream and blue variegated balls to complete the pattern for our friends Lisa and Larry.  They live in Florida and love the beach and I love how the patterns floats between being clouds or waves.

Using some more Homespun yarn, I made this curly scarf and a set of fingerless gloves (or texting gloves as they are being called now) for my cousin Nikki. It's very girly and cute and fun, so I thought she'd like it.  Both patterns came from the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet I've followed before.

I decided to also make a scarf and fingerless glove set for Cindy using Vanna's Choice yarn.  the gloves are the same pattern as Nikki's but the scarf is just a series of double crochets and half double crochets to my preferred length--no actual pattern.  I just thought it was cute.

I also made a few extra scarves and gloves.  I might keep a set or I might donate them.  We'll see.  I'm sure there will be some more projects to come up this spring and I'm also excited because Rachel has picked up crocheting so we'll be able to swap patterns and such.  Yay!