Lesley84
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2012
- Messages
- 12
Thought I would take this chance to give a bit more background on our family. We were a 'normal' military family, moving every 3 years (although we actually averaged at least one move a year). I discovered it was the best way to actually clean house! My older kids loved it. They always knew no matter how much they loved or hated a place, we would be moving soon.
The hardest move on them was when we were preparing for retirement and moved back to GA. At least it was back to GA for me, since I grew up here. Hubby grew up in Missouri. My kids all thought this small town in Metro Atlanta was the most 'red-neck' place in the world! They eventually adjusted...
As they started leaving home, one by one, hubby and I started enjoying our new found freedom. Prior to this, I was a stay at home mom. With no little ones around I went back to work. I was enjoying a new life as an insurance underwriter and making pretty good money. We traveled every other weekend. You rarely found us at home. The beach, the mountains, where ever as long as we could make it in a day.
And then...Miss B came into our lives. At first it was only on the weekends. Then we started taking her with us on our trips. It is easy to think that she had traveled more in her first year of life than most people did during their whole lives! In fact, she was with us at the beach when her little brother was born when she was 15 months old.
A few months later, he started joining us on a few of those weekends. It wasn't long before DFACS decided their bio mom wasn't capable of taking care of them and they came to live at our house. Within a year they were added to our family as our (sort of ) forever kids.
Our first trip to Disney was soon after the courts awarded us permanent custody. (there was no fight from any bio) It was right after Miss B turned 3. It was kinda cute to have to pay for her...not so much now!
The planning for that trip went something like this...I won a gift certificate from work for a week's stay at a popular hotel chain. I won the certificate on Monday. By Tuesday we had a reservation in Orlando made, and a trip to Disney was born. On Friday, I had ordered the tickets from undercover tourist, and we left on Saturday morning. Did I forget to mention it was spring break week?
It was crowded, it was hot, we had no reservations for eating anywhere, and it took us an hour to get from the hotel to Disney property!
We never made it to a park before noonish! And we never stayed past 6pm!
But we had a blast!
That started our almost annual expeditions to Disney!
Our next trip involved a bit more planning and a bit LESS money. It still was spring, but we stayed at Shades of Green and got the tickets from there as well. We only had one ADR (Garden Grill) but it was enough. We actually decided one day to stay at the hotel and swim rather than to go to the park. (Unbelievable!)
Our next trip was ill fated from the beginning. I had planned on surprising the family with a trip. We were going in June to celebrate Miss B's birthday and Father's day. She would be turning 5 on Father's Day. For Christmas, everyone was given a stuffed Mickey Mouse (rather large size) and Dad's held a banner saying "We are going to Disney!"
It, of course was a hit on Christmas Morning. It was the most notice we had ever had for a vacation. That alone gave Hubby problems!
Unfortunately, that trip never materialized. ( Thinking about it now, I realize I don't think I ever got the money back from that cancelled trip.) On April 22, 2005, my family was involved in a horrific automobile accident. My mother, who lived with us, always picked the kids up from day care. She took them in the morning and then picked them up around 3 or 4. That way she had her own life during the day and they didn't have to spend too much time at day care.
On the way home that afternoon, she pulled out from a stop sign into traffic coming at her at 55 mph. She was killed instantly and Mr D, sitting directly behind her was seriously injured.
At that moment my life changed. My mother was gone, but I had no time to grieve for her. My son and daughter were taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. We had conflicting reports from EMS. One report said that both kids were deceased, an another said that one was deceased and the other had cuts and bruises.
I believe that drive into Atlanta was the longest drive of my life. I only remember bits and pieces of the next 6 weeks. I do know that the emergency room at Eggelston Hospital is the greatest! They treated us like we were the only patients there. The parking lot was covered in Walton County Sheriff's Department Cars. The waiting room was filled with family and friends. I think almost everyone of our church family was there. People I hadn't seen in years was there. We had at least a hundred assorted people waiting to see what the results were.
Luckily, our 4 year old, Miss B, only had a few stitches to her forehead from flying glass. Unfortunately, she never lost consciousness during the accident. She knew her grand mother was dead and she heard the original EMS saying her brother was dead. She saw the helicopter come and take away her brother. She told me the helicopter was an angel and was taking her brother and grand mother to heaven.
After all this time she still has the emotional scars from that accident.
Her brother, who was three at the time, suffered from a Traumatic Brain Injury and a collapsed lung. He was clinically dead at the scene, but we were very fortunate that an emergency room doctor was across the street and witnessed the accident. She was first on the scene and started working on him. She had already called for a life flight for my son before the rest of EMS got there. He coded many times before they got him to the hospital.
He was in a coma for a week. When he finally came out, there was concern that he would never regain anything. He was paralyzed, he could not speak, and his eyes were blank.
We spent another 6 weeks in Rehab. I never left his side. He had 8 hours a day of extensive rehab. The original goals for him were to get him off the feeding tube (he couldn't swallow) and to have him make a purposeful movement. They set a time frame of 6 weeks for that. Meantime, they were teaching me how to do his feeds and take care of him.
A week into the rehab, he made his first purposeful movement. He reached for a toy.
On Mother's Day...he spoke! I had left the hospital and my older daughter spent the night with him. When I arrived back that morning, he smiled and said "I love you" . Those were the best words I ever heard!
His progress from then on was steady, but it was clear he was not going to be 'normal' ever again. Within 6 weeks, he remembered he was potty trained, started being able to eat small bits and got off the feeding tubes, regained the use of his right side, and started talking in a strange monotone voice we called his monster voice. The only good thing to come out of the accident...his asthma was completely gone!
It has now been 7 years since the accident that has defined our lives. Miss B is still as smart as ever and consistently scores perfect on her standardized testing (CRCT) and is in middle school. Mr D is still unable to read, but is starting to grasp some math concepts. He loves Science and history and loves to be read to. He has regained partial use of his left side, and is no longer in a wheelchair. In fact, he barely walks it is usually a run! He is emotionally and mentally a three year old. Disney is his favorite place in the world!
Sorry this was so long! I do tend to get wordy!
I promise to be more upbeat on future installments!
On to the planning!
Nini
I applaud you and your family in the struggles you have overcome in the last 7 years. Reading your story brought tears to my eyes.
Nini, I have a two part question for you.
<---- not off topic any more 
But then you would have 2 trips to do-over... Which maybe isn't the worst thing in the world? 
I cannot imagine how frustrated you all are! 
