Nana's 9's - A very special gift

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

In November of 2008, my Grandmother (known as GG for Great Grandma to my kids) and I were talking about what she was going to do with the money she was going to leave the great grandchildren when she passed (a conversation I HATED having). We talked about special accounts, trusts, etc., She then changed the subject and said that she was sad that my Mom (her daughter) and I never got to take our trip to Ireland (I got pregnant instead ). She asked me where I could send everyone for $xx amount of dollars. Thinking it would be very tight, I said, well maybe Disney..and she was so excited, I quite frankly had never heard her so excited. Thus our trip was decided. Gram reasoned that rather than give the kids each a little bit of money, she would give the family a trip that they would have priceless memories from.

I was put in charge of getting quotes for the trip and putting everything together. GG was going to give the trip to the family for Christmas (they are all in NH and me and my family are in GA). I was worried that I would not be able to get 11 people to Disney for her budget but luck was on my side. We picked the dates of Sept 5-13, so we could celebrate my daughter's 2nd birthday and my Mom's, (ahem, 29th birthday). I got the hotel (ASMu suite and a preferred room), the airfare and tickets for GG budget. I put together a binder of specially designed pages, announcing the trip, giving details about the hotel and the trip and packed it with brochures and a DVD. We set up our webcams in NH and GA for Christmas morning and I saw GG give the binder to my Mother to unwrap. Now my Mom is not the emotional type, but when she opened up that binder and saw that she, her 4 daughters and 5 grandchildren were going to Disney, she was overcome. She held her hand to her mouth, with tears streaming down her face. The look on my Grandmother's face was pure joy at seeing how excited my Mom was and how stunned my sisters were.

Planning this trip has been a revival of sorts for my Grandmother. She had lost her next door neighbors of 15 years in 2008. They were an amazing couple who were the best friends she could have ever asked for. John passed away first, and then his beloved Marion passed away a few months later. Gram just declined herself, while I was not there I could hear it in her voice, her spark was gone.

I called her about everything having to do with the trip, she helped decide on every aspect of the trip. I would print things off the computer and send them to her to look over. She would call me so excited when she got the mail with pictures of the different resorts, she crossed her fingers with me on getting "Free Dining". She gave me her vision for th trip and we scrutinized over every detail. She had purpose again and I had never heard her so giddy.

Next up:

The signifigance of the number 9

[SunnieRN]

Oh my gosh, how wonderful!!! I can't wait to read more about your trip!! How awesome that you could help bring so much joy back in your grandma's life, as she got to bring joy to her whole family!!

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

Thanks. I just love and adore my Grandmother and it has made me so happy to help her do this.

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

So I am not big on "coincidence" and such but...

There are 9 of us that belong to my mother:
4 daughters, 3 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.

We will be in Disney for 9 days,

We will be in the parks for 9/9/09

The last 2 digits on our confirmation are 99

So I am kinda stretching, but thought it was cute...

[OhMari]

Hi,
We have a pre-trip board, but you can stay here if you want.
You sound like you know pretty much about WDW, with all your planning.
Have fun,
OhMari

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

Our group is an interesting one to say the least:

Mom (aka Nana)

Myself (J)
My Husband (S)
DS (P) 9*
DS (B) 6*
DD (K) 1

Sister (BK)
Niece (Z) 6*
Nephew (M) 7*

Sister (O)

Sister (KL)

I put an astrik next to the kids in our family that have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), yep thats 4 out of the 5. We are waiting to see about our daughter but so far, knock on wood she is not presenting with any symptoms.

I was hesitant to post that the kids had autism, after someone commented to me on these boards that they did not "advertise" the fact that their child had ASD. I wasn't sure how to take that comment. Was I advertising that my children/niece nephew (hence forth known as "my kids") had it? Was it seen as I was looking for something, sympathy, special treatment?. I was not but did not want it percieved in any other way than I intended it to be. I am proud of my kids and all that they have accomplished. I put out there what they go through because I want people who don't have a child with ASD to understand their life, so when they come across a family living with it, they know a little bit about ASD. I can't tell you how many times I have been out with my kids and my son will have a meltdown ( due to his inability to deal with the surroundings, attack on his senses) and people stare or tell me that I should discipline him etc.

I want to share how excited the kids are for this trip and how they get to spend a week with each other and surrounded by people and a place that let's them be them. Disney is the greatest place in the world for my kids.

So that will be the last of my "soapbox" rant and on to the rest of our story.