Let's All Follow Shirley's Lead

[4cruisin]

It seems as though things have been getting out of hand on the dis lately and although we may not agree with what is happening, it would benefit us all if we could all "play nice".

Shirley never has a bad word to say about anyone and maybe if we follow her lead, hurt feelings and misunderstandings can be kept to a minimum.

I have followed these boards for over a year and am amazed at the kindness of some, Dave from Marietta, Verandah Man, Rae,
BD's humor (that takes a while to understand ) and the many other members that are so giving and kind. Look at what was accomplished for Nate in such a short time. I do not consider anyone here part of a clique, everyone is here to help and to give advice and if we can just go back to that theory, maybe everyone will be happier.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Nancy

 

[Verandah Man]

I have something I would like to share with all of you. I received the following massage a few days ago from Nate Page's mom Chris. I was going to keep this to myself, since the first part of the message is in response to a gift I sent Nate after his return from their cruise. I'm not trying to make myself out to be a saint, please believe me. After seeing the photo of Nate with Captain Mickey and Captain Tom, I decided that Nate should be Captain Verandah and not myself, so I sent Nate the Captain Verandah hat that I wore on our cruise in August. Please read Chris' message, then put yourself in her shoes. You Dis'ers have touched the lives of the Page Family, in ways that you may never know.

Ddad,
I went "back home" to St. Louis for the weekend to see my family and
your "package" for Nate came after I left. Eric was calling me on my mobile
phone the minute my plane touched down to tell me what you sent Nate. Andy,
we are to touched that you would give up such a special memento of your
trip. Are you sure you don't want to hang onto it? I would understand if you
want it back. I'm just happy we got to see it. But, if you insist Nate keep
it, we have a great idea we plan to do with it. Eric is very crafty at wood
work and he has made a box for a woman one time to house a folded flag that
belonged to her Dad. It was beautiful and the front was clear so you could
hang it on the wall and then be able to see the flag inside. I think Eric is
going to make one similar for Nate and we are going to put the hat, the
pillowcase and some other things we have brought back as mementos in it. It
will display well I think. Thank you Andy, I love to have things to hold
onto knowing someday I will spend a great deal of time looking and
remembering. That may not make sense the way I said it, but I don't want to
be a downer with my sentimental talk.
So I have been thinking how can I repay you for the hat....I have
thought of one thing or another and decided they just weren't right. So this
is what I am left with, you gave Nate an incredible memory from your
cruise...I will share a memory with you as well, only I don't have an item I
can send you from this experience, only the memory. I hope it's enough.
Knowing my Dparents, it will be.
Alright, I have not told many people about this because quite frankly,
it has taken some time to sink in to the point I could really put words to
it. First I should give you some background. Nathan would look to be a
"normal" 3-6 month old baby to anyone we meet in say the store or something.
Of course the problem is he is not 3-6 months old, but 6 years old. Also, I
keep his little body covered. You see, when Nate has his clothes off it is
easy to spot some (God forgive me for saying this) deformities in his body.
His arms are especially different and his chest and neck. I know you
wouldn't think this because you and Hazel are good people, but there were
times in the beginning with Nate that people made some very hurtful remarks
about his body, so I have kept it covered for 6 years. I don't want people
to look at him, see the deformities in his arms and that be the only thing
they can see. I want them to see his beautiful smile and feel the light
radiating from his soul. Also, people have just said some very unkind things
about him in general, some of which even came from our own so called family.
So, Eric and I have gotten very hardened by it all and I have just gotten in
the habit of protecting him from these things. It's not even something I
think about anymore, I just do things out of habit to help shield him from
these ignorant people. For example, keeping his "imperfections" covered.
Our last full day on the ship was at Castaway Cay and I had a light
weight romper on Nate. He was laying so content in the beach chair and just
resting and looking and listening to all the sounds. He was very happy. It
got warm pretty fast and I thought, "I have to take him back to the ship.
It's too hot out here." I went to pick him up and he was looking so peaceful
and enjoying being outdoors. I thought, "Oh I can not take this away from
him. He enjoying it too much." So I took his romper off and let him lay in
the lounger in his diaper. I turned my lounger so I was facing him and we
both just laid and relaxed in the shade. Eric came up and was talking to me
and then just stopped mid sentence. I looked back at him to see why he
stopped talking and he was just staring at Nate with his jaw dropped to the
sand. I got worried that he could see something wrong with Nate and I
started to panic. What's wrong?! What's wrong?! With tears in his eyes he
said, "Wife, you have his clothes off! You never let people see him like
that!" All of a sudden it hit me that I had not even thought about what I
was doing when I took his clothes off. I had only thought he was warm and I
wanted to make him cooler. In that place and in the time it did not occur to
me that I had to protect him from unkind people. For an afternoon I was
given the gift of normalcy and was able to just relax and be at peace. I was
a normal mother for a few hours! Nathan got to be a normal kid and be
outside just experiencing the weather and the sights and sounds. Parts of
his body that have rarely seen the light of day were being warmed by the sun
and kissed by the breeze. Andy, it was phenomenal. You and everyone on the
boards had started the ground work by being so good to us, then everyone on
the ship was so nice and not one single person, NOT ONE, gave us strange
looks, or pointed or asked any inappropriate questions all week. So, by
Friday, I was so at ease I didn't even think about there being any thing to
protect him from!
Trust me on this, if we go out with Nathan, at least one person where ever
we go will either point or ask something, well stupid. For an entire week to
go by and not one thing happen is a miracle. Or as I prefer to believe, a
gift from God.
So, that is my special memory I want to give to you. Sorry it's so long, but
I still can not believe it happened! I hope I was able to convey just how
special it was. And just how thankful we are. You helped give us that
memory, you and all the dissers and our DIAD. How can we ever show enough
thanks for that? I have not shared this story with the board because I
wasn't sure I could put the right words to it. Maybe they wouldn't even
understand how incredible it was. Just an afternoon at the beach, big deal.
Well, let me tell you, there has not been a bigger deal in 6 years!
The problem is now Castaway Cay really holds a special place in our hearts
and is even magical to us. We will have to find a way to go back there,
that's all there is to it. I wonder if Disney would consider letting us live
there?

Chris


My Disney Dream would be, that we could all get along together on this forum, and not jump down each other's throat. Life is short, let's enjoy it with each other, and when those times get testy, like I know they will, let's try and remember the lesson we learned from Nate and His Family.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Thank you Andy and Chris

 

[abitjaded]

Oh Chris, how lovely. And so sweet of you, Andy.

Carla

 

[fredms]

Always nice to get a good dose of perspective.
Thanks for sharing, Andy & Chris.

 

[paulmc80]

Oh heck. Just here to have fun.