Sitting on the veranda at 2:00 a.m., the morning of my daughter's 11th birthday, and her saying to me, "Mom, I haven't been so happy in such a long time, thank you!"
To explain, we were both up in the middle of the night because the motion of the ship made the closet door slide shut, which woke the two of us up. We went and sat on the veranda, watching the lights in the distance, trying to figure out what they were, wishing we had binoculars, and looking at the stars as we listened to the sounds of the ship on the ocean. I was thrilled to be sitting with my daughter, just the two of us, no interruptions.
Prior to the cruise, my daughter was going through a very hard time in her life, having started at a new school the year before and just not fitting in, which then progressed to her being tormented by some of the other kids. It became so bad that she started seeing a psychologist when I saw a note she had written talking about how she wanted to kill herself. Warning bells went off, and I wanted to give her something fun to look forward to in life. She loved Disney the year before (my kids' first visit!), and she had been asking to go on the cruise since she saw it in the Disney planning video. Well, I decided that we would go on the 4-day that fell on her birthday (just like her mother, vacations are what she looks forward to
).
I knew my daughter, with the help of the psychologist, was getting better, but when she told me, at 2:00 a.m., that she had not been so happy in such a long time, well, I knew the money we spent was worth it. I had my happy, smiley daughter back, and she hasn't been depressed since last September (I bet all that attention from Adrian and Zoltan, our servers, didn't hurt, either!
).
That was my favorite moment. And don't tell, but I am surprising my girls with a Dec. Western Cruise!
I agree this is a hard question, but probably the thing I will always remember it the sound of the horn for the first time, it still gives me goosebumps, can't wait till we get to go back!!
