*8/7 Chp.7* The Incredible Shrinking Woman Turns 40...TWO trip reports in one!

[stace208]

Hi Shannon! I'm joining in so I hope you have room for one more.

Congratulations on your weight loss! You look fabulous. Of course, you were beautiful before too!

I feel for you on the loss of your mother. How blessed you both were to have those last years together as a family. I lost my mother to brain cancer when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child. Saddens me that my kids never got to know her.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I think you are incredibly strong. How lucky you and your children were to have your Mom living with you all, I am sure you will all have cherished memories from that time.

 

[TarzansKat]

Thank you friend. You know you were/are a major inspiration to me. I hope I can hang on to the good feelings like you have.

When you can, and when you can't, I'll be here all the same.

 

[TarzansKat]

I just read your first chapter, and my eyes are full of tears for you. What an amazing woman your mother was. And still is! Her influence is obvious. I look forward to reading more.

 

[cdotla]

I can't say how moved I was reading your post. Your mother sounds like an incredible woman. How lucky you were to be able to share all of those special memories with her.

I would say if anyone needed/deserved a trip to WDW, you certainly did at that time! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[Native NYer]

Your post was very touching. Your kids were so lucky to be able to spend so much time with your wonderful mother. And how great that you were able to share the magic of Disney with her.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[kent285]

Holy cow, girl, you look amazing...congratulations! Your mother would be so proud. So glad you are back- I kept searching for you every few months. I lost my sister, Susan (51), in February to Multiple Myeloma, so I'm finding your story to be so cathartic...thank you for sharing your ups and downs with us.

 

[Dizneydawn]

Hey my Southern Sister,
Needed to tell you that I adore those pics of your Mamma and you all. The one of her in the Goofy Hat needs to get printed here and go on our family wall. You know she meant the world to us in such a short time and I am so blessed she shared any of her life with us. The stories of her will forever live on and lighten the hearts of those who knew her.

I am so glad you are telling this from your heart and are at a place to recount the memories and the life behind you that makes your vacations mean what they do and your future whole enough to accept your worth in everything.

YOU deserve to be happy. This has been a transformation year in so many ways.

You have worked hard at accepting your life without your resident kick ya in the pants and love you more immensely than the vastness of the ocean. You have worked hard at looking and the mirror and loving all the imperfections and accepting there are many perfections looking back because you know what...

There ARE perfections and it okay to think you are pretty amazing because many of us do!

I also think in the deepest of night when you are in the bonds of sleep, you have your Mamma in your ear, telling you that she not only held on for those two grandkids but also for yourself. She waited for you to be strong enough and have enough steps under your feet to face forward and she knew you were taking care of yourself inside and out and you were going to be okay.

She told me that the last time I saw her last August. She knew you were going to be, "Just fine."

So write, cry, write and heal. Bring her with you on this journey and know she would want nothing more than for you to love your life as much as she loved hers with you.

 

[grumpyyoungguy]

Shan, I will never EVER forget your mom. She is truly a unique wonderful person. She created a great person to be our friend. I have never laughed as hard as I did when your aunt took Baylor's glasses and your mom just kept poking her about it. It was PRICELESS...

Keep writing, I know your mom will be watching

 

[Millie12591]

SHANN!! I've been wondering where you went off to.

I totally understand your needing a break from it all for a little while.

You do look amazing!! I'm hoping to be right there with you in a matter of a year or so. I'm doing it the old fashioned way, pound by pound and workout by workout, I'll be there before you know it!

It's so good to see you on the Dis again!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I had written a response yesterday but it disappeared on me!

Lovely beginning to your TR!
Don't for one second apologize for what you write! Your story is wonderful, moving and it's who you are here. Your mom obviously was a wonderful person, and a great influence to you. I'm sure she's always with you.

Keep going- we're all here!!!

BTW - cute VB bag!!!

 

[shannon47142]

like many others, I am deeply moved by your opening thoughts to this report! I am following along so I can see your amazing progress through some very tough times! By the way, you look great!

 

[YukiPhnx]

I'm here!!!!

Ok, now to go back to catch up.

 

[shannn]

Wow you look great! Sorry about your Mom. I just lost my Mom to cancer also in May. I'm taking my Dad to Orlando in Oct. He really wants to go to Universal for Harry Potter. And we'll also do Disney. Can't wait. And looking forward to your TR.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Forgive my language, but there's just nothing to say but Cancer Sucks! Hang on through my October trip and I'll be reporting on Universal. We went in March with my brother.

Hi Shannon! I'm joining in so I hope you have room for one more.

Congratulations on your weight loss! You look fabulous. Of course, you were beautiful before too!

I feel for you on the loss of your mother. How blessed you both were to have those last years together as a family. I lost my mother to brain cancer when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child. Saddens me that my kids never got to know her.

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! When I get really down, I remember all the years that we were given. Mama's cancer was advanced when it was found, so those 7 1/2 years were truly a special gift. I'm so glad that that my kids will always have the memories of her, especially since they never got to meet my father. I'm so glad you're here.

I think you are incredibly strong. How lucky you and your children were to have your Mom living with you all, I am sure you will all have cherished memories from that time.

Thanks~ We were very lucky! I don't know how strong I am, but I did learn from my mom how to take it one day a time so that's what I'm doing.

I just read your first chapter, and my eyes are full of tears for you. What an amazing woman your mother was. And still is! Her influence is obvious. I look forward to reading more.

My mom was a very special person and such a good friend, as I know your mom was too. I do miss her every day, but I also remind myself how blessed I was to have that kind of a relationship with her.

I can't say how moved I was reading your post. Your mother sounds like an incredible woman. How lucky you were to be able to share all of those special memories with her.

I would say if anyone needed/deserved a trip to WDW, you certainly did at that time! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

I'm glad you all have gotten to know just a little bit more about mom. She was amazing. I was still really stunned at that point, but a getaway was definitely much needed!

Your post was very touching. Your kids were so lucky to be able to spend so much time with your wonderful mother. And how great that you were able to share the magic of Disney with her.

Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks Jen! My kids were very lucky and I'm so glad that she made the decision to leave her life and move to be with us. She was very close with her family and it was a sacrifice but very important to her that she truly got to know my kids.

Holy cow, girl, you look amazing...congratulations! Your mother would be so proud. So glad you are back- I kept searching for you every few months. I lost my sister, Susan (51), in February to Multiple Myeloma, so I'm finding your story to be so cathartic...thank you for sharing your ups and downs with us.

Thank you. I so appreciate the warm welcome back. My mom's name was also Susan. She was 63 when she died. It's way to young to lose someone and I'll reiterate that cancer sucks!

 

[shannn]

Hey my Southern Sister,
Needed to tell you that I adore those pics of your Mamma and you all. The one of her in the Goofy Hat needs to get printed here and go on our family wall. You know she meant the world to us in such a short time and I am so blessed she shared any of her life with us. The stories of her will forever live on and lighten the hearts of those who knew her.

I am so glad you are telling this from your heart and are at a place to recount the memories and the life behind you that makes your vacations mean what they do and your future whole enough to accept your worth in everything.

YOU deserve to be happy. This has been a transformation year in so many ways.

You have worked hard at accepting your life without your resident kick ya in the pants and love you more immensely than the vastness of the ocean. You have worked hard at looking and the mirror and loving all the imperfections and accepting there are many perfections looking back because you know what...

There ARE perfections and it okay to think you are pretty amazing because many of us do!

I also think in the deepest of night when you are in the bonds of sleep, you have your Mamma in your ear, telling you that she not only held on for those two grandkids but also for yourself. She waited for you to be strong enough and have enough steps under your feet to face forward and she knew you were taking care of yourself inside and out and you were going to be okay.

She told me that the last time I saw her last August. She knew you were going to be, "Just fine."

So write, cry, write and heal. Bring her with you on this journey and know she would want nothing more than for you to love your life as much as she loved hers with you.

Oh dear friend; I can't ever thank you and your family enough for the support and love you've given me through all this. I am so lucky to have you as a part of my life~~ and you KNOW that with y'all around things never get boring!

I didn't know that Mama had told you that. It means a lot. I was looking at your back TRs too and I came upon the pictures you took in August. I believe they were the last pictures taken of her. I hope it's okay, but I snagged the one of her and Caroline. Looking at it made me remember how bad things got at the end, and I think that's a good thing to remember (strangely enough...) I need to remind myself that she has been released from the suffering of cancer.

You know I'm working on the "deserving to be happy" part and the "accepting life" part. Not an easy thing to work through, but I do think writing about things will be cathartic.

Shan, I will never EVER forget your mom. She is truly a unique wonderful person. She created a great person to be our friend. I have never laughed as hard as I did when your aunt took Baylor's glasses and your mom just kept poking her about it. It was PRICELESS...

Keep writing, I know your mom will be watching

Thanks sweetheart. The interactions between my mom and her sister were hilarious at times! I know that Dawn & I usually monopolize all the conversations, but I want you to know that I love your quiet strength and the wisdom that you impart when you get your turn. You are a special person and I'm so lucky to get to call you friend!

SHANN!! I've been wondering where you went off to.

I totally understand your needing a break from it all for a little while.

You do look amazing!! I'm hoping to be right there with you in a matter of a year or so. I'm doing it the old fashioned way, pound by pound and workout by workout, I'll be there before you know it!

It's so good to see you on the Dis again!!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! Congratulations on your weight loss and best wishes for your continued success.

I had written a response yesterday but it disappeared on me!

Lovely beginning to your TR!
Don't for one second apologize for what you write! Your story is wonderful, moving and it's who you are here. Your mom obviously was a wonderful person, and a great influence to you. I'm sure she's always with you.

Keep going- we're all here!!!

BTW - cute VB bag!!!

Thanks Sheree! I love that VB pattern and I was just hunting ebay today for more since it's discontinued now.

I'm glad you're here and I appreciate your support!

I'm here!!!!

Ok, now to go back to catch up.

I'm so glad. I'm all caught up with you & Andrew now.

 

[shannn]

For those of you who've been on a journey with me before, you know how I am about getting ready for a substitute. This time was actually better because we were leaving after school on Tuesday so I was only getting ready for a one-day sub. But still I stacked, collated, stickynoted (still should be a word), and highlighted every little thing on my desk. I wrote notes upon notes and reminded my principal for the 15th time that little Jamie (names changed to protect the not so innocent) was going to try and snow the substitute for sure. He promised me that he would take care of Jamie the antiChrist and shooed me out of the school right on time at 3:15. Sam was waiting for me at home as promised and my wonderful mother-in-law was there to watch Morgan & Lily.

It was hard to leave my babies at that moment. Even though I'm usually the opposite of a hovering parent (Go to camp for a week? Yes, please.), right after Mom died I found myself clinging just a little bit harder to my family. There's a sense of who/what will be next to fall apart when something like this happens. I am still working through this to some extent. I'm just a little less trusting and more paranoid that bad things are coming around every corner.

But after lots of "Bye Mom, We'll be fine" when actually took off. We left about 3:30 and we were headed for a Hampton Inn in Georgia to break the trip into two sections. If you've read about my December trip, I would have just preferred to keep on going until we couldn't go anymore, but Sam wanted to used Hilton Honors points to reserve a room, so we had to make a plan and Lake Park, Georgia won the lottery.

As we drove we talked a lot about, what else? Mom. With her absence so strongly felt in our family, we were/are in the process of renorming. Mom had been living with us since 2005 and our family life had been based on the 3 adult/2 child configuration. When she was feeling well, she was our laundry/dinner/babysitter go-to person. Since we both work full time, she had been thrilled to step into that role. After losing her, we were both a bit lost to figure out how to run things with our new configuration. It really helped to acknowledge things and recognize that we were both having trouble figuring things out.

As the miles flew by, I thought about how lucky I am to have Sam. When I married him, it was because 1) he was cute, 2) he made me laugh, and 3) he could drink a lot of beer! Okay, maybe that's not everything, but I WAS only 21 and not very deep in my reflections about life. I'm so lucky that I ended up with someone who can see issues and be aware of the reasons when we are acting cranky and out-of-sorts with each other.

We stopped at an Applebee's (can't remember where...it was just an Applebee's) for dinner. Another issue during this trip was that I was only 3 months out from my gastric bypass. I have to eat good protein and I have to eat a lot of it. I got a sizzling cheesy steak thing (which should have been perfect~~ all protein) but unfortunately the steak was really overcooked and it didn't sit very well with me. Sam got the wonton tacos and he still likes to go back for these now. I had lost about 60 pounds at this point and I was feeling so much better about myself! (It's funny because when I look at these pictures I just see how much more I've lost now, but at the time, I was feeling great!)

We stopped at the Hampton Inn and honestly I remember very little about it. I looked at our luggage lined up and I remember taking a picture so that I could show y'all just how bad I am at packing.

Honestly, nobody should need that much crap for a 5 night trip!

As the last minutes of my 30s ticked down, I sat on the bed and painted my toes! I was going to celebrate my birthday with the Mickey the next day and I was going to wear my flip flops, and I needed cute toes to do it, darnit!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I still feel that way when I see pictures of myself at weight loss but not as far as I've come, it's amazing how our perceptions change.

Well of course you have to cute toesies for Mickey!

 

[Native NYer]

I always overpack, so I get it! LOL
How long is your drive to WDW?

 

[All7OfUs]

HI Shannon!! Oh it's been ever so long since we've connected here!! I'm so glad you're back and healthier too!!

I will have to catch up soon, as I myself am on a mini-self-imposed ban right now- just so much going on...

Great to see you again!!

Liesa

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Ugh.

Took me long enough, but I'm here.

I need to catch up though....by catch up I mean start reading.

I think work can be put off for a little bit today....