The Trip That Never Was!!!???

[real mad hatter]

Good Morning All..Hope this is in the correct place...All this talk of planning got me thinking of an old friend...Heres my story...After our first close encounter with the mouse in 2004. We came home with lots of stories & awesome memories. One of my closest friends had recently adopted a boy,aged about 4..Now he had no family of his own.Just himself and his wife,both had great jobs and great salaries..So this new addition was something he had always dreamed about..When I mentioned how they would love a WDW vacation he was really interested but that year they wanted to fly somewhere close by,just in case his son didn't take to flying,so they opted for Spain..When we came back from our 2nd trip in 2006, once again we raved about Disney and showed them photos of our trip,and this time he decided to go for it..Well 2007 came and went..On 2008 we were off on our 3rd Disney vacation,but they decided to fly down to London and visit Lego Land.....But he said next year for sure....So come 2009 I asked him where he was going this year..He said maybe we will consider going to WDW.His son would be 9 that year,a perfect age to enjoy lots of things..But out of the blue,his health deteriorated..He hardly drank,never smoked a day in his life,and in less than 6 months passed away from cancer...His passing made me think how life is so precious and I'll never forget how that trip of a lifetime never came about..Phew! ..I hope this is not depressing everyone,and I'am wondering if anyone out there has had a similar experience where a friend or someone they knew kept on saying..Yeah..Next year for sure..By the way,my friend didn't even see his 50th birthday,he had just turned 48..

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Oh my! I'm so sorry.
And how do you follow that?!
Mine sounds so silly now, but my mother has been saying for several years how she was ready for another Disney trip. (It's been almost 7 years for them!) She would bring it up and then change her mind. Bring it up, change her mind. Well, now she has horrific rumitoid arthritis, especially in her feet and hands. It makes just moving around her house very painful so moving around all of WDW would be impossible. (She is only 46 and has sworn she will NEVER be a scooter/ EVC rider!) she is on treatment for it and progressing nicely but WDW is still a big question.

 

[real mad hatter]

Oh my! I'm so sorry.
And how do you follow that?!
Mine sounds so silly now, but my mother has been saying for several years how she was ready for another Disney trip. (It's been almost 7 years for them!) She would bring it up and then change her mind. Bring it up, change her mind. Well, now she has horrific rumitoid arthritis, especially in her feet and hands. It makes just moving around her house very painful so moving around all of WDW would be impossible. (She is only 46 and has sworn she will NEVER be a scooter/ EVC rider!) she is on treatment for it and progressing nicely but WDW is still a big question.

Sorry to hear about your mum..Me..Id ride a steam engine around WDW if it meant getting there..LOL..It's funny how one persons tragedy can completely change your whole outlook on life..Hope she gets back to visit one day.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I lost one of my best friends when we were 23, she died in a car accident, and from then on I decided that I need to live for today and not keep putting off things like vacations. Because you never know what will happen. Sure I save $$ for the future but I want to enjoy life now too.

 

[Britt]

OMG thats awful

 

[jkl2000]

I had two great vacations with my mother when I was in school - we spent about a month on the isle of Capri each time, just the two of us (and I have two brothers, but they were at camp - I was the only one up for world travel at the time!). She had some friends there, and we had a great time with them. Great, amazing opportunities, back when Capri wasn't quite as touristy as it is now (from what I hear). We also visited family in Rome, went to Venice (great memories of watching the 1976 Olympics in our amazing hotel room overlooking the Grand Canal - I was laid up with a bad ear infection, but if you're going to suffer...), Sorrento, and Pompeii. Anyway, I know my mother would have loved to have returned to Capri at some time (she spent summers there when she was a teenager), but she never did, and now her health isn't good so it's very unlikely it will ever happen.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Ouch.Sorry to hear that Mr H.Closest thing that has happened to me is getting a message from a friend in Jsy who has baan diagnosed with cancer.I suddenly realised it has been 9 years or more since we last went over there (only 10 miles away ).Am rectifying that situation early October and he seems to be responding well to chemo so fingers crossed et al

 

[real mad hatter]

I had two great vacations with my mother when I was in school - we spent about a month on the isle of Capri each time, just the two of us (and I have two brothers, but they were at camp - I was the only one up for world travel at the time!). She had some friends there, and we had a great time with them. Great, amazing opportunities, back when Capri wasn't quite as touristy as it is now (from what I hear). We also visited family in Rome, went to Venice (great memories of watching the 1976 Olympics in our amazing hotel room overlooking the Grand Canal - I was laid up with a bad ear infection, but if you're going to suffer...), Sorrento, and Pompeii. Anyway, I know my mother would have loved to have returned to Capri at some time (she spent summers there when she was a teenager), but she never did, and now her health isn't good so it's very unlikely it will ever happen.

Only been to Capri once when I was on holiday with my parents..We stayed in Sorrento ( I think ) but we sailed over on a day trip...Beautiful island..Did Gracie Fields live there.?

 

[real mad hatter]

Ouch.Sorry to hear that Mr H.Closest thing that has happened to me is getting a message from a friend in Jsy who has baan diagnosed with cancer.I suddenly realised it has been 9 years or more since we last went over there (only 10 miles away ).Am rectifying that situation early October and he seems to be responding well to chemo so fingers crossed et al

Yep..This big C is a hell of a thing..Dont know if they'll ever find a cure..I hope so..

 

[rsoxguy]

I do not believe that our lives can be measured by the amount of things that are seen or done when derived from an arbitrary list of goals. There are many things that can be spoken of with the “one day I will” term, but I believe that the key is to be certain that each day is devoted to an appreciation and enjoyment of the day’s task. There are some things available in this world that are not meant to be for some individuals. This is not to say that an individual’s quality of life is diminished by the things that are unavailable or left undone. Life is enhanced by an enjoyment of each day, as satisfaction is found in living rather than doing. Maintaining “dreams”, as it were, provides a good and healthy attitude about the potential of the future. However, a belief that leaving some of those dreams undone is that which defines life as lamentable serves only to diminish that which was actually accomplished. Dying young is indeed an awful circumstance, but dying with a prevailing attitude that one’s daily circumstances and choices amount to a dissatisfied lack of fulfillment is far more than awful; it’s tragic.

 

[Kbullz]

Oh my! I'm so sorry.
And how do you follow that?!
Mine sounds so silly now, but my mother has been saying for several years how she was ready for another Disney trip. (It's been almost 7 years for them!) She would bring it up and then change her mind. Bring it up, change her mind. Well, now she has horrific rumitoid arthritis, especially in her feet and hands. It makes just moving around her house very painful so moving around all of WDW would be impossible. (She is only 46 and has sworn she will NEVER be a scooter/ EVC rider!) she is on treatment for it and progressing nicely but WDW is still a big question.

My mom is much older but also suffers from the same exact thing. We have asked her and my dad to come with us to WDW twice already each time a different excuse. Now it is too hard for her. She also refuses to ride EVC. (so stubbron) I just wish they had vacationed with us sooner. I know they would have loved to see my kids reactions to all the wonders that Disney holds.
Real Mad HAtter- I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. It is times like that when we all need to realize how precious life is.

 

[DJMoore2011]

We originally wanted to go to WDW in May of 2010. We wanted our Darling Daughter to wake up in WDW on her 16th birthday. Sadly for 2 months before we were due to make all the reservations and the first down payment, my Dear Hubby didn't work for 1 solid month and worked very little for the 2nd. So everything we saved had to go to things like house payment, care payment, food-darling daughter seems to like food. So we agreed to wait a little longer and maybe in 2012 we would try to go for her 18th since we were planning on getting married in 2011. We were trying to keep expenses down for big things each year.

Well as we were setting up for the wedding ceremony and the reception, we had them both in the same place, Dear Hubby handed me and envelope with the words "Remember you love me, you can't kill me yet because your not the beneficiary. And yes I am positive we can do this" With those words I thought he had lost what was left of his mind. I opened the envelope and there was the confirmation email for a trip exactly 7 days from the day we were getting married. Oh and it was for 3, him myself and my Dear Daughter. He knew I didn't want to go on a honeymoon and leave my Special Needs Daughter behind so instead he planned the trip to WDW to celebrate our new Family.

So while we missed Darling Daughter waking up to WDW on her 16th birthday we got to celebrate family and it was a wonderful surprise. Even if I did have to rush around trying to figure out what the heck do you pack to FL in Nov. LOL

 

[Princess_AmyK]

Actually, my family had already paid for a trip with my mom, me, step dad, step brothers, grandma, and pops (who is the symbol of the perfect most loving human being) circa christmas time 2002. My grandpa had been not feeling well, but we anticipated he'd be able to go with us although he'd go at his own pace. When we arrived at their place in niceville, fl to meet up and drive to wdw, my grandma said my pops hadn't eaten in days and there's no way to justify taking him. My mom wanted to cancel the whole trip immediately but my pops insisted to take us to wdw without him and not to worry. The whole trip, my mom struggled with what she left behind.
A year later my pops passed away from bone cancer. So that is the trip that never was. However, my pops took my mom to wdw all the time as a child, then my mom took me. My pops talked highly of walt to me. I feel like he lives through me and the love I have for spending time with my family in disney world.
Its cheesy, I know. But everytime I enter magic kingdom, I can't help but see my poppy.

 

[Spikerdink]

Actually, Hatter, that is the story of my upcoming trip. I had vacationed with a few friends last year at WDW - after all my raving about how wonderful it was, how much fun adults could have, a few of my friends decided to try it out for a test drive. All had been there before, but with family/kids and almost no planning from the people running the trip. Since we had never all traveled together before, they decided 4 days would be enough - so that if we were not compatible our friendships would survive. I booked three rooms and we had a great time. The laughs, the adventures, the going through the parks was just about perfect. We decided before the end of the trip that we would all get together again for F&W festival at the end of September. So all through last year I plotted, planned, booked, scheduled, revised, rebooked and we all had our rooms (BWV) and airfare set. ADRs were taken care of the minute I could log on.....

Then in March we were to go to Key West for a few days. I had to cancel out on them because my mother went into the hospital (again). I was bummed as I had not been on vacation in a full year at that point. When they came back from the trip, one of my friends said they had a great time, but that towards the end, Mary was bothered by a bad cough that just would not stop. She tried lozenges, cough syryp....nothing worked. She agreed that if the cough lingered a few more days, she would go to the doctor. Well, they returned home, and the cough did not go away and true to her word she went to the doctor. This was in late March....and I remember coming to work to say I was able to change our reservations from Saratoga to Boardwalk when my friend Carol told me that Mary had called her to say she went to the doctor....and that his diagnosis was lung cancer. We were all in shock. Mary began treatment a few weeks later, but by mid summer she was starting to fail and we knew that the chemo/radiation was not helping. Even though it was not said, I knew our trip was not going to happen.

Two weeks ago, Mary lost her fight. I had already cancelled the rooms for my friends but kept a few days of my trip since another friend was coming along and I couldn't tell him I cancelled the entire trip.

But I remember sitting with everyone talking about the restaurants we were going to try, what shows/attractions we were doing and how great Food and Wine would be for us.... But these are not memories that will be made. I will raise a toast to Mary while I am away, but it's not going to be as fun, and the trip that was supposed to be just won't be the same.....

 

[danzkat]

I lost one of my best friends when we were 23, she died in a car accident, and from then on I decided that I need to live for today and not keep putting off things like vacations. Because you never know what will happen. Sure I save $$ for the future but I want to enjoy life now too.

That is the same way my family looks at life ever since my brother was murdered in 2009 at the age of 26 years old. We had already been planning a trip for the nine of us including my brother, sister and her husband, my parents, my husband and our children. We almost cancelled the trip but went anyway because it was our favorite place. At times it was bittersweet, recalling the memories from past WDW trips but at the same time we started a new tradition and it helped in our healing process. So now we live each day as if it were our last while still preparing for our futures.