Hello, Dear Friends
(and new members to this thread who I have not had a chance to
officially, and to whom I apologize for the upcoming, gut-wrenching post),
I am just starting to swim towards the surface following the absolutely tragic loss of my husband Mark 2 weeks ago. We had been together as best friends for 40 years starting when we were high school sweethearts, and our 35th anniversary just passed. He was truly an extraordinary man. That certainly comes from a place of bias, but has been backed up by the incredible tributes from friends and especially a number of colleagues who have honestly shared that my husband was THE greatest influence on their careers, he taught them more than any other manager/programmer (about coding and life) and literally changed one intern's life.
Mark had just retired 3 months ago, and as a result of his hard work for so many years, and our excellent planning, we had the ability to do practically anything we wanted, to go to all the places we had never been and maybe go back to a few others that we loved.
To say that my sons Nate and Ben and I are devastated is an understatement. This is not okay, not by any stretch of the imagination. But they will be okay. I will be okay. We are all going to keep busy, because that is how we get through this. That is what Mark wants- not for us to crawl into a ball under the bed covers. I have a HUGE amount of support from my friends and community and that helps a lot.
I want to thank all of you who have posted messages or reached out to me. Thank you to
@luvpoohandcompany for keeping you informed.
I'll be back trying to run the show soon. Not exactly sure when, but I won't be able to catch up on past posts so the Be Our Guest list will have some empty space for awhile. When I am ready, I'll ask for you to repost the dates of any future trips. I'll update Page 1 with current news and changes.
Speaking of trips. To bring this slightly on topic.
In a horrifically unbelievably case of coincidence, my best friend Linda lost her husband John, also 56, suddenly two weeks before Mark passed. I had been supporting her through the loss and now we are supporting each other. John and Linda, Mark and I all love Disney. Linda and I were roommates on our sons' 8th grade class trip in 2015. John was Puumba to my Timon when we performed Hakuna Matata in front of 600 middle school students (and stunned Linda with the surprise).
I am taking Linda on a trip to WDW in August. She is a school secretary so this is good timing for her. My boys will both be gone from home so it will be good for me to be away. We are going to laugh and cry and drink. Not necessarily in that order. We are not sure that this is a good idea or not, but we are going to do it. Mark and John would both support this trip 100%.
We will be having dinner with Teena, the former long-time Beach Club lobby greeter and a CM friend Lauren for dinner one night. Teena also lost her husband suddenly in 2015, while my group of DIS friends were on a trip visiting her.
Linda and I will have 2 nights at Caribbean Beach and one night at the Poly, where we will watch the fireworks from the beach.
Thanks, again, for all of the love, prayer and positive energy you have been sending to my friends and family.
As a famous Mouse once said "See You Real Soon!"
Dee (natebenma)
PS- if you want to send me an email, you can write to beachclubdee at yahoo. I forgot that I had that way to communicate with any of you who want to.