The ABC's of Trip Reporting- PLEASE JOIN US ON THE NEW THREAD!

[cantwaittoseemickey]

I am really late in this thread (who knows what page I actually made it to) but I'm here and reading. I am from the Wish trip thread and follwed Maroo over.

I will "TRY" to keep up

I am sorry for the feelings of overwhelmness you had Maroo ((HUGS))
I am sorry you had a difficult recovery from the Gastric Bypass Shann. My sister did as well and is still fighting for her life.

Liessa, what a journey you have been on for so long and now leaving it must have been so hard. But the joys that await you must be many as well. I hope things go more smoothly for you in the next installment. ((Hugs))

 

[marvali]

Happy Anniversary! We have 22 years coming up in a couple weeks - I keep asking DH when I get my medal. I know I have earned one.

Thanks Tanya! Medal? I think I deserve a trip to WDW!

Hey Liesa,
I don't want to bring your thread down so a quick recap. I had my gastric bypass the beginning of July. It was a difficult recovery,but I'm doing okay and I've lost 50 pounds so far. My mom's cancer returned right after I had my surgery and got very bad very quickly. She passed away last Saturday after a very difficult last 3 weeks. I really haven't had the mental energy for anything but I'm trying to make the effort to rejoin the world this week.

Oh, I am so very sorry for your loss! Great job on the weight loss, though.

U r always welcome to talk about anything here on this thread! We laugh and cry here!

Hang in there and keep hanging on here or take as much time as u need.

You should have let us be there for you!!! For all the picking on each other we do , when one of is down it is our JOY to be there for them !!!

Shan, so sorry to hear about your loss! Agree with those above......for all the good-natured picking going on around here, this is a great place to find love and support when you need it most! It helped me more than anyone will ever truly know when my Mom passed away a few weeks ago!

Liessa you mentioned all the "unintentional "remarks we all have made !1How about we share some !!!I know Winkers has a VERY good one that she can post !! Just recently I said Marv was a doghouse when what I meant was he should beIN a doghouse !!So who's next!!!!

Oh Rosie, if we posted all of yours there wouldn't be enough room for everyone else's! And I meant that in the nicest sort of ways!!!

Loved the report update Liesa! Can't wait to read more. I imagine a few at the DC meet, your cohorts at WDW, and a few others on here who have kept up with you far longer than I have probably know much more of your story while serving a great need in Asia, but I have had to do a lot of speculating and have been looking forward to hearing your story!

BTW, I don't know DS13s current mile time, but his latest 5K he ran Saturday was a 22:24, which is about a 7:13 average mile. I'm not sure I could ride it on a bike that fast .......too many breaks in between!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Liesa, this is a wonderful update about the start to your trip!

I am impressed that you managed to go out for a last run on that morning! Are you still keeping up your training? I am registered for a 10k in two weeks and training has had its up and downs. Yesterday I did a trial run and it was 1:18 h for 10 kilometers. I really hope I will be able to stay under 1:15 h for the race.

I have a few ideas about how you solved the passport issue! I just don't get it, why you would need a certain stamp to leave a country. They ought to be happy to let people get out, what does it concern them anymore?

I knew how bittersweet leaving was for you, but I really hope that you will be able to stay in touch with your friends over there! Have you had the chance yet to speak Kazakh again? I guess you might be skyping with your friends over there now?

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Originally Posted by shannn
Hey Liesa,
I don't want to bring your thread down so a quick recap. I had my gastric bypass the beginning of July. It was a difficult recovery,but I'm doing okay and I've lost 50 pounds so far. My mom's cancer returned right after I had my surgery and got very bad very quickly. She passed away last Saturday after a very difficult last 3 weeks. I really haven't had the mental energy for anything but I'm trying to make the effort to rejoin the world this week.

Oh my goodness, how heartbreaking! I am so very sorry for you you've been through. It is an awfully lot to carry when one loses a parent; We feel rather lost for a very long time. Rosie said it beautifully:

when one of is down it is our JOY to be there for them

Please let us be here to hold you up a bit on those difficult days.

I am glad you have recovered from the surgery - 50 lbs is quite an accomplishment! Congratulations!

 

[englishrose47]

Good Morning All and Marv too!!!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Oh, Leisa....sigh....what to say....my heart picked up a beat, eyes welled...then I reached the end and suspense!!! What a cliffhanger!!

For many years we lived within the sound of a monastery bell calling the nuns to prayer 7 times a day - it is such a beautiful sound - I still miss it everyday. The call to prayer, be it monastic or Muslim is has a beauty not enough of us are blessed to experience.

Very much looking forward to the next installment.

 

[jenb1023]

What a rollercoaster of emotions you all must have gone through those last days and particularly that last day. And of course what would your last day be without another crazy bureaucratic mess! Looking forward to the photos and to how you resolved the situation!

 

[maroo]

I bet the trip was incredible!! So happy for you all. Wouldn't it be fun to get a group together for a trip -with so many TR followers, it would kinda be like our own MouseFest.

Mousefest type meets with this group of folks would be so much fun!

All caught up. I feel the same way. It would have been kinda fun to slosh around in a hurricane. I have done it before. Luckily I bought trip insurance and well, that took care of that. Best $66 I ever spent.
Now my eye is back on the weather for the next trip. Not worried per say but just so I am prepared.

I worry too. But some of the best moments are those you don't plan for. I am just now learning that.

My hurricane sloshing fun has been with a few storms. But Katrina ruined me for a while, I think. That was no fun at all - even with all of the excitement.

Just call me the White Rabbit.

Fourteen pages later...

Liesa, Maroo, I'm really looking forward to reading about your trip.

Hello!!!

I would love to tackle WDW sometime with people that get it - even if just for a day.

Totally fun!! And no kids, frankly, adds a different experience, too. Suddenly it is about enjoying only for yourself - and it changes the experience. Not worrying how someone else is reacting to this or that allows you to fully experience it yourself...like "playing" Toy Story...Too fun when you can play to win!

I am really late in this thread (who knows what page I actually made it to) but I'm here and reading. I am from the Wish trip thread and follwed Maroo over.

Hi!!! Thanks for hopping over here! It moves fast, but it is a very fun group of folks (and occasionally a little crazy.)

 

[Lady Lallie]

You are the queen of cliffhangers!

 

[maroo]

First of all...you RAN! In that kind of heat and with all of that going on around you - I am so impressed!

Wow, Liesa - I am so acutely aware that I have NO CLUE what leaving a place like that feels like...

I can remember feeling similar feelings after being on a mission trip for a week or two, I can't imagine leaving after years...and 10 years? Very hard stuff!

I am glad you had this trip to look forward to...and maybe the drama distracted you a bit, too.

We should skype later, if you have time.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Wow! Just what you don't want to deal with when trying to leave. I'll be waiting to see what happens.

And I give you so much credit for getting out there and running when it's that hot out. I stop moving altogether when it gets that hot.

 

[Poolrat]

My hurricane sloshing fun has been with a few storms. But Katrina ruined me for a while, I think. That was no fun at all - even with all of the excitement.

Hugo did that to me too but on a smaller scale. We had no power for about a week in one house. We had just cllosed on our new house and we got power ther in 3 days. Only an adventurous couple of days and week of frustration getting the new house set up since no deliveries or new services were being installed.


Liesa- Leaving a place you called home after 10 years. A bittersweet time indeed.
Can't wait to hear all about that journey.

 

[manntra]

Oh my!!!! I am nervous now!!! Please don't leave us on edge for too long!
What an emotional goodbye Must have been very difficult....
but exciting at the same time

You ran?!! In that heat?!!

Tracy

 

[mzozzietj]

OMGoodness Liesa, you certainly know how to leave us hanging on the edge of our seat waiting for more don't you???

You should be a novelist, seriously! You're writing is wonderful! BUT I want to know what happened with the stamp!!!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm sitting at the very edge of my seat. I can't wait to read what happened.

 

[TarzansKat]

Dude.

That's some sort of serious cliffhanger, hon.

 

[Millie12591]

Loving your updates Liesa! I didn't think you would be so torn about leaving K-stan. It sounds like your hitting the ground running being back in the states though!
I don't think I do nearly enough by your example, I'm thinking I could learn a thing or two about how to live out my days by just watching you.
My mom use to can and make her own jellies and jams when I was little...still makes jams and jellies actually, something I've never done. I remember when I was pretty little and I came down sick around the time she was making jam, I remember it because I remember the fond memories of smelling the good smells and her giving me aspirin hidden in the jam on a spoon so it would make taking it gown down a lot easier.

Mary, you little booger-boo. I wish you would have shared with me what was swirling through your head while planning your trip. You explaining your apprehensions reminded me much of myself and what all goes through my head when I'm about to embark on something, I think we're a lot more alike than I realized.
To hear all about your apprehensiveness and then to hear about how it ended up being an amazing time all the way around....just goes beyond words.
By the way....every time you would text me while at WDW, it would make my day!! I loved hearing how you and all who were with you were having such an amazing time, it truly blessed me.

 

[Millie12591]

Oh Shannon.... I'm so sorry to hear about your mother, I know from your TR's how close you two were and that you were such an amazing daughter to her, you did so much for her having her there with you in your home and taking care of her as long as you did. I'm sure she loved living out her days with you and her grandbabies around her.
I pray peace and understanding over you and your family as you go through this season.

 

[reelmom]

Such an amazing post. I could not imagine what an emotional rollercoaster that your family was on. I know that everything turned out ok but still I held my breath while I was reading. Can't wait to read the next installment.

 

[mom3sonstt]

As someone who has basically lived in 2 houses my entire life, and they are only 12 miles apart - I can't even begin to imagine what you have been going through. My parents were in the process of building their house when they found out they were pregnant with me. I lived there, other than 1 year at business college - where I came home every weekend, until I married DH. We lived in a little house for about 10 months until we were able to get everything squared away with his ex-wife (custody of their oldest boy, ending maintenance payments, working out a sale price for the house....) Then we moved into this house a couple weeks before I had Sean - who is now 21. Living in a different school district is a foreign concept to me - let alone a different country and culture on the other side of the world. I am amazed by your strength of character, of family, and of faith to be able to do something so utterly out of my realm of possiblity.....and to do it with such a positive attitude and sense of humor. Bless you and your family - and welcome home to the land of entire aisles of cereal!