Memories...Part Two

After a good night’s sleep it was time to spend the day at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom and the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that evening. It was easy and quick to get breakfast at the hotel and catch the shuttle bus to the Park. I am very thankful that WDW parks has the bus system because I would never know how to get anywhere there. It was a chilly morning and we had prepared for the whole day and evening not to go back to the hotel.

All Star Movie Hotel-Toy Story side

Sherry, Lynn, Wendy and Linda ready to hit the park

 It was amazing to walk into Magic Kingdom and see Cinderella’s Castle. It of course is much taller than Sleeping Beauty Castle and the entire park is much bigger. The very first thing we did was get the silhouettes cut. It was a little cart on Main Street and was a bit different form Disneyland.  At Disneyland they can add official Disney characters to the cut out, but Magic Kingdom cannot. I was a bit disappointed that I could not get Ellie with a Minnie mouse like Snooks. However, she could add Minnie Mouse ears on her head, which was fitting as she had a crocheted ear hat on. I was extremely disappointed that the entire family could not be cut into one silhouette like I was told at Disneyland. I got one with Lil E, Mimi and Snooks and then Papa, Mimi, Gigi (Jenn), Weeny (Wendy) Snooks (Violet), and lil E (Elinor). Lynn and her mom, Linda got one together too. I just love these as they are such great memory makers.

Bill, Sherry, Jenn, Wendy, Violet and Ellie

Mimi and Snooks

Lil E with Minnie Ears

One added little surprise was that Rachael and her family were going to be at Magic Kingdom the exact same day as us. Rachael was our wonderful ICU nurse that was with us the night Heather died. She is part of me forever as she was so loving, kind and supportive during and after Heather’s death. Rachael and her family moved to Florida a couple years ago and I had not seen her since her 2^nd daughter was born. I feel this was not an accident that we both ended up being there at the same time. It was so good to see her and her family and meet her girls. What a special added memory.

Rachael and Sherry

Cinderella Castle

There was a huge cold snap that had hit Florida while we were there and when evening hit it turned very cold, of course for all us Phoenix people it was freezing. Magic Kingdom was hugely crowded and we stayed for the Frozen show and the parade but left before the fireworks began. If we had to do it over again we would have picked Epcot or Animal Kingdom during the day and then gone to Magic Kingdom for the evening with the Christmas party. All in all it was a good day and we left very happy, cold and fulfilled.

Fireworks

Nothing more beautiful than the castle at Christmas

BEST photo bomb ever!!!

Friday, December 12^th, was when we headed to Cape Canaveral to board the Disney Dream for our cruise. This again was seamless as the Disney Cruise Bus met us right outside the hotel. Once boarded we were all excited to head to the ship. As we got closer it was with sheer delight as everyone began to see the ship. It is really quite a site to see this beautiful fleet of ships docked in the harbor next to all the other white ships. The port area was bustling with cruisers eager to get on board but we did take a few minutes to look at the Christmas decorations around the building. Getting thru the line was flawless and it was time to get on board.

Our group ready to head to the ship

The Cruise Buses

Since we boarded about lunchtime we were able to go to our rooms and drop our carry-on bags and then go to the buffet for lunch. After lunch our luggage had arrived, we unpacked and then it was time to go on deck for the safety drill. Of course Disney has a huge launch party on deck while we leave port. Snooks hit the pool while the rest of us watched the shore as we left.

There is that AWESOME ship!!

so cute

One of the amazing things about the Disney Cruise Ships is that they have rotational dining, meaning that the ships have three separate dining rooms and your group rotates thru them so you enjoy all the different dining rooms. Our first night was at The Animator’s Palate. This is kind of like the name implies, everything is based off drawing and animation. Our group had the premiere table at the left side of the dining room with a huge flat panel screen at our table. Right after our orders for dinner were taken, Crush, the sea turtle, came to have a chat with us. He had heard that we had a birthday at our table and wanted to help celebrate it. “Dude Sunnie, from Arizona” was there to celebrate. Crush went around the dining hall to all the different screens to tell everyone we were going to do the wave to celebrate “Dude Sunnie’s” birthday. It was so awesome and we enjoyed ourselves so much that night. Of course the food was amazing.

The Animator's Palate

Sherry and Bill with some of the Crew

We watched the Golden Mickey stage show, walked around ship and had a photo taken with the crew. The kids were in awe at the vacation so far. It was amazing and we were having such a great time with Lynn and Linda. It was nice to be with them again, and in a strange sort of way, it felt like Heather was there. It was nice to be able to talk about Heather and know that Linda and Lynn loved her so much. So this ended the 3^rd day of our vacation….

Memories...Part One

When Heather died I realized the most important thing in life is the memories that you make and the people that you make them with.  It has nothing to do with your job title, the amount of money that you make, or how expensive the gifts you give. In the end all you take to heaven are your memories and hopefully the people that you love.
When Heather died she left behind a 6 foot one, black, grand piano. I can still picture her face the day the piano was delivered and they set it up. She knew that the piano was hers and she could play and practice on it. In 2009, I believed that I would someday be living in a small apartment with that grand piano taking up the entire space and having to eat and sleep inside of it. But with time, everything changes and when you see things differently I realized that Heather would not want her beautiful grand piano sitting unused, untouched and not tuned for the remainder of my life. So last Christmas I made the decision to sell Heather's piano before the carpeting was put in so that I didn't have to pay movers twice to move it and then move it back onto the new carpeting. It was very difficult for me to have the first person that Heather's piano teacher brought over to see if they wanted to buy the piano. It has been said that I am a very strong person, but as strong as I thought I was, I could not handle seeing young person after young person coming into my home, sitting at Heather's piano and them play with the delight what might be theirs. So I contracted through a consignment store and sold Heather's piano.
When Heather died if you had asked me then if I would ever consider going on a cruise I would have told you “you were insane.” Cruising to me did not seem to be my type of vacation. However after our 2012 Disney cruise to it Alaska, I realized that I did indeed enjoy cruising. In October, 2013, I decided that I wanted to make memories and take my family; my daughters, their husbands and my granddaughters to Walt Disney World and on a Disney cruise to celebrate the holidays for Christmas this year. Once the piano was sold, I used the profit from the piano to pay for our trip and our cruise. I could have bought new carpeting for the house or put a nice down payment on a new vehicle but again I wanted to make memories with the ones I loved instead of material things.

Edison holding Daisy tsum with Bear in the bag and ready to go

When Heather died, Wendy and Jenn were not married, and Lil E was not here. Amazingly, Jenn's husband, Paz, actually met and spent time with Heather on several occasions. The only members of the family that have never known Heather or Aunt Missy are Sunnie, Violet and Elinor. I find it so amazing that Sunnie, who never met or knew Heather shares her exact same birthday-December 10th. I do not think this is by accident that he has this bond with Heather. Then both babies are born on the 10th of the months. So it seemed that the perfect time to take an all family vacation would be December 10th. One to celebrate two very unique and special birthdays and also the cruise ships are decorated for Christmas as well as Disney's private island-Castaway Cay.

The Gang selfie-Jenn wearing Ellie, wish my arms were longer

October and November came and went and our big family vacation was coming close. We had many things that seemed to want to sink our vacation. The final thing required us to get an attorney to make it all happen. I was into the full swing of work and had Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. I was uncertain as to what I would be working on Thanksgiving since the store opened at 6pm and remained open till 10pm Friday. I decided not to cook a traditional meal for this holiday and then cook big again in less than 30 days. For the first time ever we had pizza, chicken wings and salad for dinner with pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. The only thing that mattered was we were all together. My shift at the store turned out to be on Friday.

My Sunnie-Happy Birthday! I didn't get to hug Heather but I got Sunnie

I was made to feel a bit guilty for being off from work as it was the worst kept secret there. Looking back I should have just let it go and been myself. But I was trying to be political correct to earn a continuing position at The Disney Store after the season. I was nervous about using the paper Disney discount card as I had been told there could be lots of issues with the parks not accepting these. To be completely honest I wasn't sure just what my discount would be. I knew I had 20% off but then there was the Christmas bonus that allowed a 40% discount, but seasonal employees are not given all the perks of the regular cast members. But I have to say that it was very easy to use my discount card and I received the 40% off everything that I purchased and this included fine art too.

Minnie and Mickey made in Germany

Artist Larry Dotson and Sherry with a copy of the painting

 December 10^th arrived and all the Coombe, Shannon and Galusha-Luna’s arrived at the airport with all our luggage and carry-ons. What a site to see our family all checking in. Our only hope was that the 13 checked bags would make it to Florida and we would not leave any of the bags behind on the actual flight. We arrived in Florida after an uneventful flight as Lil E slept almost the entire time. We arrived at the Disney bus to go to the resort and here came the rest of our group, Lynn and Linda, from South Carolina. Hugs were given and we headed to the All-Star Movie Resort and then to Downtown Disney for shopping.At dinner I managed to find a chocolate cake to celebrate Sunnie's birthday. Where there is a will these is a way to find anything!! It was chilly but still a fun time looking at all the shops and all the Walt Disney World items. The most treasured item I bought is a painting of Sleeping Beauty Castle decorated at Christmas by Larry Dotson. In, 2009, when we were at WDW he was signing artwork and I bought a small 5X7 of Cinderella Castle decorated for Christmas. This time I bought the actual Gilee (gee-clay) of his newest Christmas painting. I told him my story and that today would have been Heather’s 27^th birthday. He made sure to assign me painting #27 and he would personalize the back and ship it to my in January.

Snooks in Downtown Disney at the t-shirt shop

So ended the 6^th anniversary of celebrating Heather’s birthday without her. I think being busy with traveling and being away and my mind kept occupied it made the day go faster and hurt less….it still hurt but maybe a bit less.