"You cheated!!"....."Pirate." *A Solo Feb. PTR*...

[LegoMom3]

I do feel like I cheated. And thus, I do feel like a pirate.

Savvy?.....No? Well, read on for the finer details as we shed some light on the proposition!



Welcome aboard mateys! This here be the PTR that I was disinclined to acquiesce to its request.....but it begs writin' so here I am. In a way I am a pirate, as I don't feel I can properly keep my word in regards to a trip [and I'm sure several of you scalawags can attest to that...] . My plans have changed horizons many a time but my compass has finally found its heading:

When: Dates o' Feb. 25, 2011 - Feb. 28, 2011

Where: makin' port at the isle o' "Pop Century"

Who: Me-self!!

What Is Your Purpose Here? I be joinin' another Pirate and one Princess fer a bit o' grub-n-grog... Because I'm sorely tempted to accept that offer! AND!!....I'll now be runnin' in the Royal Family 5k!


So climb aboard and set sail for some pirate-y adventure! Ports-of-Call [that be 'chapters'] to follow.....

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I Think We've All Arrived at a Very Special Place
One Word Love: Curiosity
Leverage, says you. I think I feel a change in the wind, says I.
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[creativeamanda]

I'm first! And I really wish I was going to see Tink cross that line!

ETA--I think the whole pirate thing is awesome!

 

[LegoMom3]

And arrived we have.......FINALLY!

You see, the journey to this trip has been a long one. It has undergone several incarnations, from a full-on family trip to POFQ, to the Polynesian, to a cruise, to POR. Now, it's a solo. How in the world did such a thing happen??

I cheated.

Well, sort of. You see, the family trip was for Disney's now-famous Free Dining promotion. Only we're used to booking that sometime around April. This year, they decided to mess with things and offered it now, for next year. Which was a good thing, but just left too much empty space between the booking and the happening. My mind was enraptured by all the different scenarios, and well, I became a resort-switching fool, bar none.

Fast forward through several budget discussions with my DH, and what we finally came up with is to wait until tax time, see how we fare with the monetary cushion, so to speak, and IF we do a family trip at all, it'll be a cruise sometime next fall.

Which has nothing whatsoever to do with my trip in February, but I digress....

Except that in between all the what-if's and should-we's, DH said to me, and I quote: "You should take another solo trip next spring. You need that."

After I did this -- .....I did this -- ....only they were tears of joy, not sadness.

My first-ever solo trip was last May, over Mother's Day weekend. So. COOL! I figured I was blessed to do that and it was more or less a once-in-a-lifetime deal. But my best-in-the-world DH knows how much My Happy Place means to me, and thus the offer for another solo. Actually, what he added after that initial statement was something to the effect of, why don't I just plan to make that an annual thing.....




Dude.......!


So, after looking at various times that I might want to go on what is to be now termed my 2nd Annual Mom's Mental Health Solo, I settled on the last weekend in February.

Why, exactly??.....

Because two of my very best friends in the world are going to be there, and to cheer on one of them who will be running in the Princess Half-Marathon. Best friends are the glue of life. They hold you together when you are coming apart. I was in that very spot not so very long ago, and they were there for me. And I love them.

And I cannot WAIT to share a Casey's nekkid hotdog and nose-- I mean, cheese!, fries with them.

Oh, and the cheating??.....I'm paying for this trip with the money I'd put into the "should-we-shouldn't-we" family trip.

Pirate.
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[creativeamanda]

So this bears the question--have you contacted your TA yet? She's going to throttle you! LOL!

 

[LegoMom3]

So this bears the question--have you contacted your TA yet? She's going to throttle you! LOL!

As a matter of fact I have, and I've also already apologized!! If we end up booking a cruise for the family, I think I'm going to book directly through Disney.... That poor woman....



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[Native NYer]

Joining in!
Can't wait to read more

 

[creativeamanda]

As a matter of fact I have, and I've also already apologized!! If we end up booking a cruise for the family, I think I'm going to book directly through Disney.... That poor woman....



.

Of course, I bet she makes a big commission off of a cruise booking!

 

[SadieDog]

I'm here too.

 

[LegoMom3]

Joining in!
Can't wait to read more

I'm here too.

Hi guys!!

and thanks for dropping by!

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[kwitcherkicken99]

I know I'm late... but I'm climbing aboard nonetheless!

 

[TarzansKat]

It's all about the no...I mean, cheese fries.

I'm here. I'm ready. I'm pirate.

Take what you can. Give nothing back!

MMHS = something I should learn how to do.

 

[LegoMom3]

...You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act on selfish impulse. You want to see what it's like. One day you won't be able to resist.




That pretty much sums up what a solo trip is all about. Which is our heading in this chapter.


I've sailed solo at Disney before. Once. It was amazing.....Like a first-kiss kind of amazing. The awe and wonder and sheer abandon are so freeing. And I relished every. single. moment. Because, in my little world, I figured it was all I was getting. I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity, and one shouldn't tempt fate, savvy? So it's not something I was going to ask to do again.



But I do get to do it again. And I didn't even have to ask!!



I have talked around the DIS with other solo-trippers, and inevitably we find there are those who long to taste such freedom, but doubt they ever will. Because their DH/partner wouldn't go for it.......


Saddest. Thing. Ever.



Now, far be it from me to pass judgment on another couple's relationship, but dudes, I just cannot relate. Now I readily admit I'm quite the independent soul, but fortunately I have a DH who understands that. He understands my need for alone-time, time to gather my wits about me (on the off occasion that I can actually find them...), and to just be with myself. I'm comfortable with myself. I like my own company. And I don't feel the need to have someone else along to constantly engage in conversation.



To further aid in explaining the resolute need for a solo trip, let me interject here that our family is ALWAYS together. And we are very, very blessed to have that. That is not lost on me, since family is very important to me. But we live where we work (at a camp) and home school the three boys. Do you see a pattern here in my life?! NO alone-time!!


Honestly I would be happy if DH told me to just go to Houston or San Antonio for a long weekend. I have NO problems finding stuff to do when on my own. But my DH is awesomer than that......HE tells me to go to Disney instead.


And go I will, baby!! Just a few more days and I'll be double-digit dancin'!! I am SO. AMPED!!! And for the first time ever, in all my Disney trips, I am not planning out every detail of every day. Shocking, I know... No ADRs, no park plans, no schedule (more or less). It's a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of trip. And I'm ok with that. Because I'm meeting a Pirate and a Princess, there will be some scheduling of meets, but other than that, I will just go where the wind takes me. Hoist the colors and all that.



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[creativeamanda]

Ah. . .that sounds like the perfect trip--no plans, just going.

 

[Native NYer]

Love it!
Sometimes no plans is the best plan

 

[TarzansKat]

Dude...are we really that close to double digit dancing?

 

[daisyyy]

I am here... better late than never...!

 

[Smileybug]

I'm here too!!

 

[LegoMom3]

I am here... better late than never...!

I'm here too!!

Well a big ol' Texas HOWDY to ya both!!!!!!!!!




So glad you're here!

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[LegoMom3]

Ah yes, changes. What Disney trip is complete without them?

Well, none, in my case....


So I have a HUGE announcement to make today! Actually, I have two. The first......we are double-digit-dancin' baby!!! It currently stands at 99 days, but soon to be reduced to 98 days! And no, not by becoming tomorrow. By changing my dates!!

The second announcement is that I am moving my dates back a day, arriving on Friday and departing on Monday, so that I can be there on Saturday morning, so that I can run in the 5k race!!!

<---- Like this, but around Epcot instead of a treadmill.

It's appropriate, too, because I started running a year ago January. And I've made great progress in that time, so what better way to celebrate? I started by running a 2-mile route around home, running as long as I could, then walking to recover, then running when I could breathe again... Now I can run the 3.1 miles of a 5k no problem! I do that on a regular basis at the gym. Of course I'll need to start "real" running/conditioning, because anyone who's done both knows that running on the treadmill is just not the same as dragging your sorry carcass across the pavement.

I have to tell you this has put a whole new twist on the trip, and put the waning excitement back into my plans. I was not feelin' the Disney love recently. But I really think it's emotional duress over other issues, and just making it hard to get excited over anything. But now I have a goal, something to reach for.

We have our heading!



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[kwitcherkicken99]

Here's you: