Hello, Everyone.
Can't stop myself from sharing this--nearly a year ago I was laid off from a great job as a writer along with my whole team. Two months later, my fiance got laid off, too. We struggled on unemployment for a few months then he got another job.
Anyway, I desperately wanted to take my parents on a
Disney Cruise my fiance and I and my kids are taking Feb 8. I know there is no way they could afford it themselves--their monthly prescriptions alone are staggering! My dad is 80 and survived quintuple bypass surgery and my mom is 78 and battled breast cancer last year as well (prognosis is good). I felt that was a lot to celebrate.
After I'd had multiple job interviews with three different companies this fall, I felt confident that I would be hired and could come up with the money for my parents to go on our cruise with us. Well, all three companies decided to hold off hiring indefinitely. I was distraught, as I so wanted my kids to get to share this trip with my mom and dad while they are still able to travel. My parents are Disney nuts and took me and my sisters to WDW nearly every year since it opened, and I so wanted to "pay back" all they gave up all those years so we could afford to go on Florida vacations. (In fact, they took us to Florida when you got your thrills at Parrot Jungle, Weeki Watchi, and Six Gun Territory!)
I was prepared to cancel the cruise plans when my fiance told me he had cashed in a 401K from a job he'd held and paid for my parents' cruise as their Christmas gift! Oh!
We surprised my mom and dad with the cruise itinerary at Christmas. I'd bought a
DCL Mickey Mouse Christmas ornament from eBay and wrapped that first. In the bottom of the box I'd wrapped the print DCL brochure and video tape, with a copy of their reservation and itinerary. My mom opened the Mickey ornament and said "oh, this is cute" and then the cruise brochure and video. She looked puzzled and kept saying over and over "we're going on a Disney Cruise" as if it couldn't quite register. My sister gave them the plane tickets to Orlando for the cruise as her Christmas gift. My Mom and Dad were simply stunned. It took about two days before the reality actually sunk in...my mom said she woke up the next morning and she and my dad had to ask each other if they were really going on the trip!
My parents are in a Cat 6 stateroom like ours...my mom and dad have been on a few
Royal Caribbean cruises and never, ever had anything other than a porthole view. I know my dad, who loves the ocean, will probably spend most of his time just sitting on that verandah! I am so excited that they will get to see and do all the "Wonder"ful things while spending precious time with their grandchildren. (And me, too!) They will get to make the kind of memories that last forever, along with some great photographs and movies. And share multigenerational Disney magic.
Moreover, I am overwhelmed by my fiance's generosity--to do this for my parents because it would mean so much to me, and because I was unable to do it for them myself. You can probably see why I am marrying him! Anyhow, I met him during a business course at the Disney Institute in May of 2000. He is, and will always be, my best ever Disney souvenir.
Thanks for listening--I'm just so excited I could burst, and so happy to have this man as my husband (very soon!).
Denise