We woke early.
Who's surprised?
Star date, May twenty third, two thousand nine. TK stirs. It is early. There are no signs on intelligent...wait, Tink's awake!!! There are signs of intelligent life on this planet!!!
Okay, I don't know how intelligent or even if we were intelligible at this point in the morning, but suffice it to say my body somehow adjusted to Tink's internal alarm, and I was up at five am.
Ugh. And then I realized I was going to Disney World. YAY!!!! I may have done a little of this
but it was all internal.
We got ready and did our last minute packing, snagged a little breakfast and got ready for the goodbyes. Which I was looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. I was excited to go, but I wasn't sure how I or any member of my family would react. I was trying to be strong, but it was my first time leaving them.
It was weird. In a good way.
I wanted to linger and rush all at the same time so I don't dwell on it. Once I let DS know that he had presents from me, one per day I was gone, he was all a twitter for me to leave so he could open the first gift. There were no tears from anyone, we did well.
Upheld the code.
Maintained the pirate exterior. We won't discuss the interior.
As we were departing, DS let this one slip, "Will Auntie Tink stay here with me?"
Cue the collective "Awwwwwww...." Basically he didn't care if I left, but dang it, Auntie Tink was fun, and she was leaving too?
Hugs and kisses all around, suitcases in the car, and we were off. It was a pleasant car ride to head to my mother's, and we were a bit early. So when we got stuck behind a tractor (I do live near some farm country), it wasn't even a big deal, we had plenty of time. I was able to show Tink some of the town I grew up in and that was kind of neat.
We get to my mother's and have our very first pictures. No joke, before I even introduced them! Mom said, "Okay, picture time!" I think she was so excited for us, that she just wanted to start snappin!
I took an opportunity between photos to introduce Mom to Tink, and that was nice.
We transferred luggage to Mom's car, and we were off. She was a typical mom, and it was so sweet. Did everyone remember ________ (fill in the blank with appropriate toiletry)?
"Yes!"
Mom brings us to the airport, and we engage in the second round of goodbyes. Southwest check in was a breeze, there was barely a line, so that was great. A bit longer of a wait for security, but no big deal. I had a girlfriend to talk to, and that was sort of thrilling and different and good all at the same time.
I marveled at the fact that I only had one bag.
That felt sooooo good.
As we got settled down by our gate to wait for the plane, I had a little suprise for Tink. During the many random conversations we have through e-mail (sometimes at work), I had discovered that her favorite lollipops were red. We hand them out at the bank to the kiddos, although I tell my customers they're for children of all ages. A little Disney lives with me every day, trust me. So I got her three different kinds of red for the plane ride, and presented them. She was happy.
I also had another surprise for us, since it was a girls trip, and meant to be fun.
I prefaced it with the, will you wear anything I give you?
She said yes. Brave woman.
I can't belive she trusts me.
Fortunately, it was nothing embarassing. Just these.
And just like that, we were officially on vacation. (I'll ignore the obvious joke.
)
Boarding was a breeze. Tink had a higher number than I did, so she was able to go on first and snag us a nice row near the front of the plane. She saved me the aisle. Bless her. I don't talk a great deal about my flying angst, but it exists, and it's mostly pushed down by the fact that I'm traveling with a lot of people, and usually my son, so let's say I'm too distracted to be nervous. But I really prefer the aisle, for a lot of reasons, and she got it for me.
Our flight wasn't full, so we were able to leave the seat in between us empty, which was nice to have room to spread out. Take off was a breeze, and I'd brought some gum, which was definitely helpful.
I was so excited for our plans for the plane ride.
No joke.
We were going to play cards. I haven't had anyone to play cards with in ages, and I was looking forward to a good game of more.
Little known factoid...or maybe well known factoid about TK: it doesn't take much to amuse.
I swear to you now, on all that is holy, I had no idea I was so good at war. Which is really a game of luck and probability, not skill.
But we played one game of war for literally half of the plane ride. And I won. And then I won again.
And Tink was a gracious non-winner (loser sounds mean
) but we decided to play something else. We played war twice, right? Or was it three times? Did you win once? Memory is hazy here, I think you won once. Anyway, look for further clarification on this matter when Tink chimes in.
We got our snacks and drinks from the flight attendants and as Tink and I ate our peanuts and she was thinking of digging into the snack (100 calorie pack of wheat thins, I believe), I said, how about something else?
And then I pulled out surprise number three, the first being the pops, the second being the leis, and the third being...
We split that Cadbury bar, and it was so dang good. Lunch of champions, I tell you. Chocolate, cards, and chit-chat. Does life get much better than this? Well, yeah, we were going to Disney World, but hey, I was happy!
We decided to switch up the card game, and Tink taught me how to play rummy. I'd played this a lot with my grandparents, but had totally forgotten how, and it was really nice to re-learn. Now with this game, you earn points, so we were keeping track. It was close my friends. Neck and neck at some points, and then not so much at others.
When we landed, Tink was in the lead.
Up next - Florida Air