Thank you! We are one of those truly fortunate family groups who travel well together - or, at least, no member of it has yet disabused
me of that cheerful notion - and all of us are really looking forward to this trip. So your warm wlecomes and good wishes are very appreciated.
And it is really nice to know that you liked my Signature, Ocalla. It was fashioned in an extremely user-friendly-for-dummies program called
Animation Shop that I purchased with my first PC in 1999 and that, years later, made the transition to a new home - with
Vista - even though it wasn't supposed to be able to get even a no-longer-supported toe in
that infamous door. But, it's time for another new computer and I am so afraid that
this time all of the dire predictions of terminal incompatibility will come true. So, I spent last evening beginning to provide
Cruella de Halle with a wider selection of calling cards. Just in case there should develop a pent-up demand for them following the
Shop's demise ...
Too, my granddaughter, daughter and I are glad to know that there is another Villains fan abroad on the Board. I've always thought that our love of
Disney's misbehaved may be genetic (on my father's side). Perhaps we're related.
It was also so good to see my name included in the
Be Our Guest List, Dee. It really has made our planning for a yet-a-year-away arrival at
The Beach Club that much more fun. And I do have a question (and a confession, of sorts):
Our
Disney trips have always had their beginnings months (or a year or more) before their dates. And I have always just called
Disney and booked what we wanted, when we wanted it. Assuming, for some nebulous reason, that paying
rack rate was an inevitable cost of early planning. Now, of course, I've discoverd
DIS. And all of the lovely discounts that I never knew existed. But, because like Margaret Mitchell and her heroine, I'm a Sagittarius and tend to just shoo away regret as I would any other persistent pest, I'll think about that tomorrow. Today, however ...
I think that I understand most of them. But
The Magical Deal mystifies me. What is it? When does it make an appearance? And how does one go about getting it?
Finally, I'll presume to add this for Teena ...
My husband of 50 years died in late January of 2013. A few weeks later, my son-in-law's father (and a dear friend) left us. In eary April, my mother - and my father's wife of 72 years - died. The following week, my sister-in-law died. Or, put another way, within four horrible months, two of my grandchildren lost both of their grandfathers, their great-grandmother and a great-aunt. 2013 was a very awful year.
But, it does get better. I promise. And sometimes the ways that it manages to do that are a little astonishing. For instance, I still find myself speaking their names aloud at, sometimes very odd, moments: recently, sitting beside my daughter at the beach, a sea bird startled me and I clutched her arm and, much as I would have done as an alarmed child, I cried 'Mother!'.
I don't try to understand or explain this spontaneous and quirky little coping mechanism. I just know that it helps. As will the ones, big and small, that you'll discover as you make it through to a healthy afterward.
I wish you godspeed to that, Teena. And I very much hope to meet you next October.
gg
