ZZUB
Roll Tide, Mean It
- Joined
- May 9, 2003
This was the summer of our discontent.
I dont put a lot of stock in the idea that a year can be either blessed or cursed. I dont believe eating black eyed peas on New Years Day will bring you good luck. To borrow a phrase from a well read, if not well written, series of books, we dont do luck.
Anyway, this wasnt a bad year. It started just fine. Bama won the Cotton Bowl and Auburn lost its bowl game. So the year started off just right. It wasnt that we had a bad summer either. Nothing bad or unfortunate happened.
But it was a long summer.
Unsettled. Restless. Our discontent began in mid-March when winter gave up hope and the first ironic buds of spring appeared. Ive never been so harassed by the chirping of birds. Yet my wife found hope in the reminder that new life was on the horizon. My wife, you see, is the smarter of the two of us.
In March, we said goodbye to a child we never got to hold. His name was Samuel.
Yes, we named him. I think of him often. What he will look like and what he will say to me when I meet him. I will never see Samuel in this life. Never hold him. Never teach him to catch a football. Ill never take him to Disney World. But I know when my time here is done and I go on to my reward that my son will be waiting for me. In a better place.
This is the trip to Disney World we didnt want to take. Because we were expecting Samuel to be born this Fall, we werent planning to return to the World this year. But shortly after we lost him, we thought maybe a trip to Disney World would be smart. We began thinking about planning for a trip and for reasons which now I cannot recall, we decided to go at the end of August.
After summer.
I like having a trip planned at the end of summer because it gives you something to look forward to when the days are too long and the nights are hot. I seriously miscalculated how long a time the end of August would be. Throughout the month of March, when too many days were spent in a doctor's office or a hospital room, when we were stuck in the emotional washing machine that occasioned the end of my wifes pregnancy, I made only sporadic guest appearances at my office. It took me months to dig out from the work I had put off and the deadlines I had kicked down the road. And all my chickens came home in May, June, July and August. As a result, I went a year without a break from the work that, like a low-fat pudding cup, is occasionally satisfying but more often than not leaves me longing for something more substantial. A year without a break was too long.
When we lost the baby people were really wonderful. Friends sent cards and flowers, people from our church brought us food. That's what people do when they don't know what to say. They show up with a meal. I didn't mind. But I gained 10 pounds. So did my dog. We got a lot of food. And some new friends, some not-such-complete strangers, made me laugh. A lot.
Another friend of ours, a longtime friend, offered to give us a week at Saratoga Springs. We carefully considered the offer but ultimately declined for reasons that are of little interest to you. But then we didnt know where to stay. It is well established, I think it is anyway, that we love PORiverside. We love it there. If that makes us rednecks, if that makes us bourgeois, than I reckon there are worse things that can be said about us. Were nostalgic and we like places that remind us of other times, peaceful times. Our stays at the Comfort Inn cleverly disguised as a mansion on the river have been happy, restful.
But we couldnt go back there this year.
I had just finished chronicling our last trip there. The words were still fresh in my head; the ink still wet on the page, so to speak. I feared if we stayed there again this year wed just be trying to re-live our last trip and ultimately there was no way this years vacation could compare. Do you know what Im talking about? While you can go home again, you cant go the exact same time every year and do the exact same thing and expect the same result. At least in our experience you cant.
So we had to do something different.
Of course in its never ending assault on my wallet, the Disney marketing machine launched another year of Free Dining. Ironically, we had no plans to partake of the tomfoolery this year because for several weeks of our planning we thought we might stay at SSR. I laughed at all of those fools lapping up Disneys crumbs while inside I harbored jealous thoughts. Theres just something inexplicably attractive about not paying for your meals.
Just for clarification, Im pretty public about my faith in Jesus Christ. Im a Christian. But that doesnt make me perfect. Im a flawed creature. I dont imagine myself better than anyone else because I have received the blood of Christ, nor do I think Im morally superior. I still sin. If I didnt, then I wouldnt need a Savior at all. Id be God. But of course, Im not God. Im just doing my best to be obedient to Him.
Back to the planning. If SSR was not going to happen and PORiverside was out of the question, then where should we stay? One morning as I was laying in bed thinking about getting up, I weighed out our options and it suddenly became clear that we should stay at Wilderness Lodge.
We have always enjoyed the WL and always wanted to stay there. Those of you with a keen eye or sharp memory will remember that we briefly toyed with the idea of staying at WL last year. But the desire to keep more of my money away from Disney directed us back to PORiverside. Where, by the way, I won Olympic Gold in the Waterslide Olympics, so I continue to believe that was a good decision.
However, a confluence of events this year made me convinced that Wilderness Lodge made more sense for us. When I got to my office, I logged onto Disneys website and priced out a week at WL with Free Dining and then chewed on it for a while. Later that day, I called Disney and tried to book our trip. SuzieHelpershoes, having received a promotion from the Mainstreet Confectionary, was now taking calls at Central Reservations. Long story short, the quote she gave me was more than $300 what I was finding on the website.
So I told her that.
And she took a tone with me! She accused me of not putting in my daughters correct age and tried telling me the difference in the quote she was giving me and the website was my daughters 5 day MYW base ticket. Do the math in your head and tell me whether a childs 5 day MYW base ticket is over $300. Its not. Even after the umpteenth increase in prices its not. Even my dog, my much maligned but still cool as all get out dog, knows the answer to this question. Realizing that soon enough Suzie was going to seek out the register journal, I politely ended the call.
I then called right back and got someone with a better attitude and a clue. She quoted me the same price as the website. However, it was then that I observed that I couldnt book standard view and was forced to book woods view. No big deal, I thought, I dont mind paying a little more for a somewhat better view. So I booked the trip, made my first round of ADRs and wished the polite CM a magical day in return.
I wasnt fully committed to staying at WL. I just made the reservation. Later that day, my wife and I chewed on the decision. She wanted to stay there as well. For all of the same reasons I wanted to.
But this woods view thing got stuck under my skin. I am still ZZUB. Emotionally fatigued, over worked and in desperate need of a shave and a Yoo Hoo. I still didnt want to pay $230 more just to see trees. Cmon! Im not a big view person. Unless Im staying in the Contemporary Tower, I really dont care whats outside my window. I dont plan on looking at it a lot. And if I pay for the view, then I figure I better stick around and look at it. One thing I knew about WL was that they are pretty upgrade happy. Ive read scores of reports of people who booked standard view and got upgraded to woods or even courtyard view at check in. It was a gamble I didnt mind taking. Worst thing that could happen is we get what we paid for. I could live with that. What I couldnt live with was paying $230 more to have something called woods view. My house is rung with trees. I have a woods view all year. I dont need to pay for it.
No offense to those of you who do pay for it.
To each his own.
So when I called to change my ADRs the first time, the second time, the third time and the fifth time, I asked to change my room from woods to standard. Each time I was denied. No soup for me. And each time I comforted myself with the knowledge that I had already spent the money in my head so it wasnt costing me any more money. I play those games with myself. Its how I keep from driving my car off a bridge.
Not really. My faith is stronger than that.
But then one day I was up especially early, so I called Disney World and asked about changing my room. Huzzah! They had standard available! So I changed our reservation from woods view to standard and I laughed, laughed, laughed. Okay, I didnt laugh even once. But for reasons which will become clearer in later installments of this longer than last years Trip Report, I was really glad to be putting $230 back in my wallet. Just for good measure, I changed one ADR and went on with my day.
When June turned into July the days became unbearably long. If June was cruel, July was a tease. It was like Godfather III. Only longer and more tedious. The countdown calendar on our refrigerator mocked me each night at dinner. There were just too many days left until our trip. By the time we turned the page to August, I was in a constant rage. People were warned not to purposefully tick me off. My secretary started returning drafts to me by putting them on the end of a stick and shoving them under my door.
I know lots of you have bad things happen, and some of you reading this are thinking, get a grip, man! Your wife had a miscarriage and you work hard. Try walking in my shoes! And maybe youve been through worse things than we have. But youre not us and although Ive shared a great many details of what we went through, youd be wise to consider that I didnt report every detail and you dont know everything. You dont know the entire back story. You dont know what I saw and you dont know the decisions we had to make. Painful, difficult decisions. The questions we had to answer for our daughter. Also, pain, grief and stress affect us differently. What may be easy for you to countenance could be enormous to others. I learned long ago to be sensitive to the pain of others because no matter how much I know about the situation, I dont know whats going on behind the mask.
I have never needed a vacation as much as I needed this one. I have never felt so completely spent. When I finished the bar exam several years ago, I felt exhausted and I was glad for some vacation time before I returned to work. That was a ride on Soarin compared with how tired I was by the time the end of August deigned to make its appearance. Without hyperbole, if our vacation had been even one day later, I dont think I would have made it.
But one early morning, late in the month of August, the summer of our discontent finally came to an end.
And not for the reasons you think.
__________________
Click here for Chapter Two
I dont put a lot of stock in the idea that a year can be either blessed or cursed. I dont believe eating black eyed peas on New Years Day will bring you good luck. To borrow a phrase from a well read, if not well written, series of books, we dont do luck.
Anyway, this wasnt a bad year. It started just fine. Bama won the Cotton Bowl and Auburn lost its bowl game. So the year started off just right. It wasnt that we had a bad summer either. Nothing bad or unfortunate happened.
But it was a long summer.
Unsettled. Restless. Our discontent began in mid-March when winter gave up hope and the first ironic buds of spring appeared. Ive never been so harassed by the chirping of birds. Yet my wife found hope in the reminder that new life was on the horizon. My wife, you see, is the smarter of the two of us.
In March, we said goodbye to a child we never got to hold. His name was Samuel.
Yes, we named him. I think of him often. What he will look like and what he will say to me when I meet him. I will never see Samuel in this life. Never hold him. Never teach him to catch a football. Ill never take him to Disney World. But I know when my time here is done and I go on to my reward that my son will be waiting for me. In a better place.
This is the trip to Disney World we didnt want to take. Because we were expecting Samuel to be born this Fall, we werent planning to return to the World this year. But shortly after we lost him, we thought maybe a trip to Disney World would be smart. We began thinking about planning for a trip and for reasons which now I cannot recall, we decided to go at the end of August.
After summer.
I like having a trip planned at the end of summer because it gives you something to look forward to when the days are too long and the nights are hot. I seriously miscalculated how long a time the end of August would be. Throughout the month of March, when too many days were spent in a doctor's office or a hospital room, when we were stuck in the emotional washing machine that occasioned the end of my wifes pregnancy, I made only sporadic guest appearances at my office. It took me months to dig out from the work I had put off and the deadlines I had kicked down the road. And all my chickens came home in May, June, July and August. As a result, I went a year without a break from the work that, like a low-fat pudding cup, is occasionally satisfying but more often than not leaves me longing for something more substantial. A year without a break was too long.
When we lost the baby people were really wonderful. Friends sent cards and flowers, people from our church brought us food. That's what people do when they don't know what to say. They show up with a meal. I didn't mind. But I gained 10 pounds. So did my dog. We got a lot of food. And some new friends, some not-such-complete strangers, made me laugh. A lot.
Another friend of ours, a longtime friend, offered to give us a week at Saratoga Springs. We carefully considered the offer but ultimately declined for reasons that are of little interest to you. But then we didnt know where to stay. It is well established, I think it is anyway, that we love PORiverside. We love it there. If that makes us rednecks, if that makes us bourgeois, than I reckon there are worse things that can be said about us. Were nostalgic and we like places that remind us of other times, peaceful times. Our stays at the Comfort Inn cleverly disguised as a mansion on the river have been happy, restful.
But we couldnt go back there this year.
I had just finished chronicling our last trip there. The words were still fresh in my head; the ink still wet on the page, so to speak. I feared if we stayed there again this year wed just be trying to re-live our last trip and ultimately there was no way this years vacation could compare. Do you know what Im talking about? While you can go home again, you cant go the exact same time every year and do the exact same thing and expect the same result. At least in our experience you cant.
So we had to do something different.
Of course in its never ending assault on my wallet, the Disney marketing machine launched another year of Free Dining. Ironically, we had no plans to partake of the tomfoolery this year because for several weeks of our planning we thought we might stay at SSR. I laughed at all of those fools lapping up Disneys crumbs while inside I harbored jealous thoughts. Theres just something inexplicably attractive about not paying for your meals.
Just for clarification, Im pretty public about my faith in Jesus Christ. Im a Christian. But that doesnt make me perfect. Im a flawed creature. I dont imagine myself better than anyone else because I have received the blood of Christ, nor do I think Im morally superior. I still sin. If I didnt, then I wouldnt need a Savior at all. Id be God. But of course, Im not God. Im just doing my best to be obedient to Him.
Back to the planning. If SSR was not going to happen and PORiverside was out of the question, then where should we stay? One morning as I was laying in bed thinking about getting up, I weighed out our options and it suddenly became clear that we should stay at Wilderness Lodge.
We have always enjoyed the WL and always wanted to stay there. Those of you with a keen eye or sharp memory will remember that we briefly toyed with the idea of staying at WL last year. But the desire to keep more of my money away from Disney directed us back to PORiverside. Where, by the way, I won Olympic Gold in the Waterslide Olympics, so I continue to believe that was a good decision.
However, a confluence of events this year made me convinced that Wilderness Lodge made more sense for us. When I got to my office, I logged onto Disneys website and priced out a week at WL with Free Dining and then chewed on it for a while. Later that day, I called Disney and tried to book our trip. SuzieHelpershoes, having received a promotion from the Mainstreet Confectionary, was now taking calls at Central Reservations. Long story short, the quote she gave me was more than $300 what I was finding on the website.
So I told her that.
And she took a tone with me! She accused me of not putting in my daughters correct age and tried telling me the difference in the quote she was giving me and the website was my daughters 5 day MYW base ticket. Do the math in your head and tell me whether a childs 5 day MYW base ticket is over $300. Its not. Even after the umpteenth increase in prices its not. Even my dog, my much maligned but still cool as all get out dog, knows the answer to this question. Realizing that soon enough Suzie was going to seek out the register journal, I politely ended the call.
I then called right back and got someone with a better attitude and a clue. She quoted me the same price as the website. However, it was then that I observed that I couldnt book standard view and was forced to book woods view. No big deal, I thought, I dont mind paying a little more for a somewhat better view. So I booked the trip, made my first round of ADRs and wished the polite CM a magical day in return.
I wasnt fully committed to staying at WL. I just made the reservation. Later that day, my wife and I chewed on the decision. She wanted to stay there as well. For all of the same reasons I wanted to.
But this woods view thing got stuck under my skin. I am still ZZUB. Emotionally fatigued, over worked and in desperate need of a shave and a Yoo Hoo. I still didnt want to pay $230 more just to see trees. Cmon! Im not a big view person. Unless Im staying in the Contemporary Tower, I really dont care whats outside my window. I dont plan on looking at it a lot. And if I pay for the view, then I figure I better stick around and look at it. One thing I knew about WL was that they are pretty upgrade happy. Ive read scores of reports of people who booked standard view and got upgraded to woods or even courtyard view at check in. It was a gamble I didnt mind taking. Worst thing that could happen is we get what we paid for. I could live with that. What I couldnt live with was paying $230 more to have something called woods view. My house is rung with trees. I have a woods view all year. I dont need to pay for it.
No offense to those of you who do pay for it.
To each his own.
So when I called to change my ADRs the first time, the second time, the third time and the fifth time, I asked to change my room from woods to standard. Each time I was denied. No soup for me. And each time I comforted myself with the knowledge that I had already spent the money in my head so it wasnt costing me any more money. I play those games with myself. Its how I keep from driving my car off a bridge.
Not really. My faith is stronger than that.
But then one day I was up especially early, so I called Disney World and asked about changing my room. Huzzah! They had standard available! So I changed our reservation from woods view to standard and I laughed, laughed, laughed. Okay, I didnt laugh even once. But for reasons which will become clearer in later installments of this longer than last years Trip Report, I was really glad to be putting $230 back in my wallet. Just for good measure, I changed one ADR and went on with my day.
When June turned into July the days became unbearably long. If June was cruel, July was a tease. It was like Godfather III. Only longer and more tedious. The countdown calendar on our refrigerator mocked me each night at dinner. There were just too many days left until our trip. By the time we turned the page to August, I was in a constant rage. People were warned not to purposefully tick me off. My secretary started returning drafts to me by putting them on the end of a stick and shoving them under my door.
I know lots of you have bad things happen, and some of you reading this are thinking, get a grip, man! Your wife had a miscarriage and you work hard. Try walking in my shoes! And maybe youve been through worse things than we have. But youre not us and although Ive shared a great many details of what we went through, youd be wise to consider that I didnt report every detail and you dont know everything. You dont know the entire back story. You dont know what I saw and you dont know the decisions we had to make. Painful, difficult decisions. The questions we had to answer for our daughter. Also, pain, grief and stress affect us differently. What may be easy for you to countenance could be enormous to others. I learned long ago to be sensitive to the pain of others because no matter how much I know about the situation, I dont know whats going on behind the mask.
I have never needed a vacation as much as I needed this one. I have never felt so completely spent. When I finished the bar exam several years ago, I felt exhausted and I was glad for some vacation time before I returned to work. That was a ride on Soarin compared with how tired I was by the time the end of August deigned to make its appearance. Without hyperbole, if our vacation had been even one day later, I dont think I would have made it.
But one early morning, late in the month of August, the summer of our discontent finally came to an end.
And not for the reasons you think.
__________________
Click here for Chapter Two
Welcome back and many pixie's and prayers sent your way. Life is amazing. You can be down in the depths one day and then for a totally unexpected reason you'll wake up the next day and rejoice in something very small. Life's a reflection of everything, but in the end, God's in control and it's a comforting thought too. Anyway, glad to have a new trippie to read. Life's good as long as there's no BO in your car!
