medicgirl911
Free dining here we come!!
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 622
Where to begin! I thought writing a Pre-trip report may just help quell some of my building excitment!
My cast of Characters!
me- Tif-32, Mommy, Er Nurse, Disney addict as of May of 2006!
DH-33 (almost); a very wonderful Daddy, a true hero-Iraq Vet, and from that has some real issues with crowds
DD almost 7 (in just a few days) a daddysgirl who I wish was a
but is more like a
lol she is so wild and crazy, I do not know where she gets it!!
We will be staying at Port of Orleans Riverside 6/15 to 6/22
Lets begin with a little back story to include a brief TR from May last year because it definetly leads into this years trip...
My WHOLE LIFE my parents had told me "One of these days we are going to take you kids to Disney World" OK now in fairness my parents would normally be drunk when they told us that, and when your parents are bad alcoholics, there usually isn't alot of extra money for family vacations, whats left over goes for more alcohol. Not that I was in rags and being fed bread and butter or anything, my parents did spoil us with clothes and toys to make up for guilt I think; but my young childhood was very awful without going into too much detail. My parents sobered up when I was 12. My mom even went on several years later to become a drug and alcohol abuse counselor to help others.
The Disney talk still continued, but then my dad had several heart attacks and a disabling injury which quashed all hopes of ever having a real family vacation. My parents just divorced a couple of years ago. My Mom is now remarried to a great guy, my dad still lives near me, my mom about an hour away. My DH also came from a pretty rocky home life, his dad left when he was young and never really had anything to do with him after that. Not even when we sent him wedding invitaitons or pictures of his grandchild.
But his experiences turned him into a wonderful doting husband and father.
DH and I have been married for 10 years! We met out "cruising". Now if you don't know what "cruising" is....well basically it's just driving around. Here in hicksville Illinois that what we did for fun on Fri and Sat nights....Yaaay! LOL! We cruised the main "strip" in town in our cars and generally polluted the environment.
Like I said..Hicksville. We fell in love
and were married within five months of meeting each other
We live in a town of population maybe almost 3000 people. Yeah we really only have one stoplight.
Since we were married DH(Tim) had been in the Illinois Army National Guard. In late September of 2004, we found out he would be leaving towards the end of October to train to go to Iraq and be leaving for Iraq in December.
Let me tell you, I was scared to death. Having him leave was the hardest thing ever. I honestly wanted to like shoot him in the foot or something so he wouldn't have to go. But all guns aside, I did what I had to do and did the supportive wife thing instead. I learned what it felt like to be kind of a single mom and not have DH here to help out. I kept up and graduated through nursing school while my DD cried a lot asking when can Daddy come home. He learned what it felt like to live in 135 degree heat and have people shoot at you. He learned what it was like to have children wearing rags and no shoes to beg you for food. He got to protect people so they could vote. I graduated nursing school and I played around with the idea of going to Disney when he came home, we deserved to celebrate big time. I sent him boxes every week. He waited in line for at least an hour to call home every other day. When I didn't hear from him for a week or two at a time, I knew they were out on missions and he couldn't call. I worried. He got blown up. Yep thats right he got blown up. 3 1/2 weeks before they were supposed to come home. Heres how that one played out.
Phone rings, holy cr@p its 7:45 am, we overslept
, DD answers the phone and starts talking..its Daddy!! and she talks to him for a couple of minutes... Me- stressing because we overslept and have to leave for school in about 20 minutes....
I get on the phone, Honey we overslept so we need to hurry or can we e-mail you later or something....silence um hunny seriously we are in a hurry, I am sorry but I must of forgot to set the alarm...silence "Tif we went out a mission last night." OK, I say tapping my foot. "We hit a bomb." Me-Ok hun but really we are in a hurry. (Now in my defense this had happened MULTIPLE times, and there was never any problems, everything/everyone had been fine, they shut their phones off for a few days so things couldn't get exagerrated to people at home and gossip a going, but I didn't think about that last part. I still am in a hurry ya know and getting dressed at the same time I am talking to him.) He says "I am in a hospital in Balad" Ok time stops, the whole world feels like it stops, my heart and stomach plops out somewhere on the floor, I go into the bathroom and shut the door. He tells me they had gotten information from another Iraqi indicating who had set a bomb earlier in the week that had killed a couple of American civilian contractors near their base, so they had set up a task force to go and make arrests, my husband was driving he lead vehicle in the dark using night vision and they rolled over a buried IED (improvised explosive device) I of course am freaking out, asking him if he is ok. He is, his injuries are all to his right leg, other then some cuts and bruises everywhere else and he can't hear out of one ear. He has already had one emergency surgery to his leg. I then ask about everyone else. My husband starts to cry. I had never heard my husband cry before. I start to cry. He tells me that the person sitting next to him, a good friend of his was killed. We both cry, I know his wife well, our daughters are the same age. He has to get off the phone, he begged the nurses to let him call home so he could call me before the Army did. I no sooner got off the phone when it rang again, Hello Mrs. Armywife this is the Department of...... I am so glad he called me first.
Ok on that depressing note, I have to go wake up DD for school, but I promise to wirte some more after I get her dropped off..with some definetly happier stories, I promise.
My cast of Characters!









We will be staying at Port of Orleans Riverside 6/15 to 6/22

Lets begin with a little back story to include a brief TR from May last year because it definetly leads into this years trip...
My WHOLE LIFE my parents had told me "One of these days we are going to take you kids to Disney World" OK now in fairness my parents would normally be drunk when they told us that, and when your parents are bad alcoholics, there usually isn't alot of extra money for family vacations, whats left over goes for more alcohol. Not that I was in rags and being fed bread and butter or anything, my parents did spoil us with clothes and toys to make up for guilt I think; but my young childhood was very awful without going into too much detail. My parents sobered up when I was 12. My mom even went on several years later to become a drug and alcohol abuse counselor to help others.


DH and I have been married for 10 years! We met out "cruising". Now if you don't know what "cruising" is....well basically it's just driving around. Here in hicksville Illinois that what we did for fun on Fri and Sat nights....Yaaay! LOL! We cruised the main "strip" in town in our cars and generally polluted the environment.



Since we were married DH(Tim) had been in the Illinois Army National Guard. In late September of 2004, we found out he would be leaving towards the end of October to train to go to Iraq and be leaving for Iraq in December.


Phone rings, holy cr@p its 7:45 am, we overslept


Ok on that depressing note, I have to go wake up DD for school, but I promise to wirte some more after I get her dropped off..with some definetly happier stories, I promise.