Magic machine

So, two weeks exactly since our Disney wish trip return. I'm not even sure how to feel now. I think I'm still a little sad, actually.

Sad, you say? How could I possibly be sad after coming home from the Happiest Place on Earth? Well, simple. I'm here---not there.

I've got the wish trip blues. I won't even call it 'Disney blues'---for it was far more magical than just any trip to Disney could be. It was Make-a-Wish and DISBoards and Give Kids the World blues. All of these amazing organizations that went out of their way to make every moment of that trip and the months that led up to it, pure magic. We will never experience that level of kindness, generosity and good fortune again. And, it makes me a little sad to think that our lives may have to return to normal. To days when the only pixie dust we'll be able to find will be in the pages of our photo albums and our autograph books.

And, now I'm sad because the trip is over. I need time to mourn the end of our fairy tale. It's time to get back to reality--to laundry and swim classes and cable bills and publishing week at work. But, I'm not ready. Ugh.

Let me explain. I've been planning this wish trip with our Make-a-Wish representatives for months. I've researched, I've joined online forums, I've watched videos, read books. I put so much energy into the plans. You name it, I did it.

I found a group of 'FairyGodMailers' online and had someone send the girls a postcard from Disney a few weeks before our trip. (The idea is that when you go, you have to pay it forward. I sent two cards to Hope and Grace in North Carolina. Hope they liked their cards!) It's a wonderful little initiative. Adds a bit of fairy dust to the mail and get the girls excited about the trip!

Then, thanks to the kind-hearted friends I made on the Disneyboards (DISBoards), my daughters were selected to participate in the Big Give. It's basically a program in which volunteer crafters (many of whom are former wish trip families) choose a family to 'gift' with custom clothes for the wish trip. They sew beautiful princess dresses or create personalized t-shirts and then send them, along with stickers and colouring books and travel essentials, to the girls. It was....amazing. For about a month, every day the girls would receive a package or two, filled with surprises. They were spoiled. Rotten.

B has inherited her love of getting the mail from me, so this was just pure delight. We'd get so excited, waiting all morning for the mailman to come, then rushing to the box to to see what today's package could contain.

Such thoughtful and clever gifts! Personalized autograph books and adorable I-Spy bags. A crocheted mermaid doll. A princess picture frame. Books and stickers and Ariel socks. And, such beautiful handmade clothes! Cinderella ball gowns and Ariel pettiskirts for Brooke. Minnie Mouse hats and cupcake bibs for Avie. Matching jungle twirl skirts for Animal Kingdom. Orca-printed dresses for Sea World. Matching hair ribbons and Cat and the Hat aprons. The girls were definitely the best-dressed kids in the park. Honestly, people came up to me (at least a half-dozen every day), asking where I bought such beautiful clothes. I could have been handing out business cards. The girls looked amazing and I didn't have to pack a single piece of clothing for them. It was all a bit overwhelming!

It was just more kind-hearted wish trip magic.

And, then there was the Make-a-Wish (MAW) reveal party! The MAW wish grantors came to the house, accompanied by the sweetest man imaginable--Wayne, Brooke's wish grantor. They brought cake and balloons and presents galore. They flooded our house with good wishes and hugs and tears and laughter. Cameras whirring, bulbs flashing, princess tissue paper fluttering to the ground as the girls dug into gift bags and treats and passed out hugs and kisses for such generosity.

When the party first began and Brooke caught the first glance of the princess balloons, Brooke looked at me and asked quite wide-eyed: "Is it my birthday?"

It wasn't, but it sure felt like it was. Like it had been her birthday and Christmas and every holiday and childhood celebration all rolled into one. When the guests left, I sat there stunned for about an hour. I wiped away the happy tears and just mulled over the kindness that had been heaped upon us. Magical.

So, the lead-up to that amazing trip, was....incredible. Mindblowing. Awesome--but not awesome in that 'cool!' sense, but in the original, awe-inspiring way.

And, then--on September 8, 2011, at 5:10 a.m.--a white stretch limosine pulled into our gravel driveway to whisk us away to Magic Kingdom and Give Kids the World. To take us to relive our childhood and to celebrate life and merriment and innoncence and victory over disease. And, for one week--one week that passed by much too quickly--we forgot what real life was like.

It was magic.

There are not enough qualifiers and adjectives in the English language to describe that trip. To explain just how fortunate we feel, how blessed to have shared such an amazing experience with our children. Or how it felt to watch Brooke's face light up when we turned that first corner and the castle's magnificent fairy-tale silhouette filled the horizon. Or to describe the joy in Avie's laugh as she ran into Donald'd Duck's furry arms for the fourth time. Or to share the emotions I felt watching as the starstruck shyness that comes when a nearly-four-year-old meets the princess she's been dreaming about for over a year falls away and she throws herself in for an embrace.

All that magic, all that bliss--how can I ever convey it with words? What I need is some sort of new-word machine into which I could I could shake all of the the 'imagination,' 'sparkle,' and 'glitter' words from the dictionary. Then I'd throw in a cup of pixie dust, dump a bucket of love and kindness, add a batch of strawberries for sweetness and hit the 'blend' button. After some whirring and beeping, the machine would churn out a new word, so fresh the plastic seal would still be intact. I'd peel away the plastic and voîla! The perfect answer to the simple "How was your trip?" question.

I'm not very good with electronics and short on time these days, so it'll be a while before I get to work on such a machine. For now, I'll just say it was magic.

Pure magic.

D minus two days

So, I haven't written in months. I feel the weight of that, trust. But, right now, I am too panicked about the immediate future to care. In just two days time, we'll be leaving in the dark of night, climbing aboard a plane to catch a flight to Orlando for Brooke's wish trip to meet Ariel and the princess crew. Should be an amazing experience--if we don't all die of gastro beforehand. That's right. I am on day two of a nasty bug that has definitely made me it's bitch. I hate to be sordid, but that's the brunt of it. I don't think I have been this miserable since the day I gave birth to Brooke--and that ended beautifully, with me smiling down at an 8.8 lb little bundle of joy. There will be no reward for this pain, however. And, no amount of soda crackers, can keep back the nausea. I have it all--shakes, headache, achey muscles. Right now, I'm just praying that the virus goes away before Thursday--and that it doesn't affect any of my family. I can't imagine battling this illness in the happiest place on earth. So far, Hubby shows no sign of illness. And, he's--thank God--one who rarely gets ill. When he does, give him 12 hours and he'll be as good as new. Avie looks like the one who started us on this merry little adventure. She had gastro last week and the diarrhea dragged on for days. However, she is her smiley, happy self right now with simply a mild case of the sniffles. I can live with that. Brooke--and this is the one who really worries me--is fighting off a cold. She, too, is just as happy as can be, with no signs of getting worse. Sniffles and coughs. Pray that it does not get any worse. I'd love to keep writing about how I was suppose to spend yesterday packing and getting ready for our trip, and how I needed to go into the office today to finish up some projects, but the fact is that the toliet is once again calling for me.