When the heart is too big for the body (Wish Trip Day 1)

It's been a long time since I have had the ache of happiness and my heart has felt real joy for life. Parents of children with serious chronic and terminal illnesses rarely get to sit and watch their children just be. There always seems to be a dark cloud nearby. The patches of sunshine are few and far between and fast moving. There is a heaviness that can never fully be lifted because most of you is so wrapped up in this little person who is hurting and all you want to do is make it better and give them something normal and good if only for awhile. There is a man who understands this and built his own life around creating a place for families like ours to truly celebrate. His name is Henri Landwirth and this magical place is Give Kids the World.

Last Tuesday we woke up so very excited to be leaving for Florida. Although we had been waiting and hoping for this trip since last August, we were in no way prepared for the surprises in store. A limousine showed up in front of our little house, and Delaney and Danica screamed with excitement. I chuckled as I watched the girls ride up and down the escalator with Dan at the Akron/Canton airport. True, we haven't been out much in the past year, but if they were this excited about an escalator I could only imagine their reactions to what we were about to see and do. Many of you have planned and taken trips to Orlando. If you have, you know the details that go into just making sure your travel, lodging, meals, tickets, etc. are all taken care of. We didn't have to worry about any of that. Our wish coordinator, Madelyn Sweeney, from our local Wishes Can Happen took care of it all. I sat there at the airport and exhaled.

We landed in Orlando around noon and as soon as we arrived at the main terminal we were greeted by a volunteer from GKTW holding a big sign with Danica's name on it. He took our carry on bags from us and escorted us to baggage claim. He then took us to the rental car company which had a line of shiny new mini vans waiting to choose from. He went over directions with us, and we were off. It was so sunny and very warm. It felt good. It was like someone was infusing each of us with a special power source we had been missing for a very long time. When we pulled up to the front gate of GKTW we all gasped a little. This place was going to be home for the next week.

We entered the House of Hearts to check in and another volunteer presented Danica with a big princess balloon and a stuffed Mickey Mouse. He sat down and went over some details about our stay and then whisked us off to our villa. On our way he stopped and pointed out different points of interest in the village. We arrived at villa 234, and he slipped our name into the sign in front. It was beautiful and overlooked the pond and Matthew's Boundless Playground, a huge Candy Land themed park.

We quickly unpacked and put on our swimsuits. We headed out to explore the village and enjoy the swimming pool and water park and have the first of many icecream cones because at GKTW you can have icecream anytime you want and as much as you want. Everywhere we looked there was something magical. The old tree, Elmer, the Enchanted Carousel, the Castle of Miracles and Star Tower, the Gingerbread House, the Icecream Palace and so much more were all ours for the next week.


Most of all we didn't have to worry about anything. The phone wasn't ringing with collection calls. The mail wasn't being delievered with past due bills. We didn't have to worry about how much groceries cost or how expensive gas is or how to cut corners to make ends meet. Instead we could say "YES" to almost every request from our girls and be with them emotionally and physically in a way we hadn't for a very long time. It felt overwhelming and so good to be together with our faces turned toward the hot sun. Something was changing. This was a start to a new chapter and our hearts overflowed with faith, hope and love. Our bodies could scarcely contain the blessing we had been given.

That night as we tucked Delaney and Danica in their room together Dan and I sat out in the main living room and listened to their excited voices chatting about the day and wondering what else this week would hold. We looked at one another and said in unison, "This is what it's all about." Hand in hand our girls growing into the promise of tomorrow taking with them the enchantment of this day. Beautiful ache.

(Come back tomorrow for more photos and stories about Day 2 and Disney's Magic Kingdom.)