We shopped at one of the local stores, buying fresh fruit, veggies, and beer for our little mini fridge. Aiden and I slept on a pulled out couch bed, most of the time falling asleep before 11 every night. We walked on the beach in the morning with my Great Aunt Claire, then ate breakfast. I fell in love with grits, and the sound of the ocean. We are brown. We were in the sun for 15 hours a day for 4 days. I didn't realize how much weight I had lost (even though I knew, in pounds) until in a semi intoxicated conversation I had with my mother, and she repeatedly told me how skinny I was. My clothes fit in a way I don't ever remember them fitting, and photos are easier to take and gets ones that I actually like.
I fell in love with the west coast of Florida, and if the school system wasn't so terrible there, I could see us living there. It might be a place where I have to save up for and maybe some summer when Aiden's a little older and we can rent a house there for the summer, or even just a week or two.
Then we headed to Orlando where we spent 2 days at Disney, and 2 days at Universal Studios. Disney has four different parks, The Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. I have been to Disney twice previously, once when I was Aiden's age, and once right after my freshman year of high school. This time, it was completely different. We were able to ride every single ride we wanted to ride, some of them more than once. In the past you were lucky to get to ride six in a day, because of all the lines you had to wait in. Our longest wait was around 30 minutes, all of the other rides we were able to get on in less than 10. We knocked out Magic Kingdom the first day.
Day two at Disney was spent at Animal Kingdom the first half, and Hollywood Studios the second. Some of the roller coasters there were incredible. This was the day that we managed to drag Aiden onto the Rockin Roller Coaster. I think I may have scarred him for life. However, in my defense, recovery time after riding the coaster was less than if I would have had to listen to him complain about not going on it the rest of the day.
The two days we spent at Universal studios, we rented a stroller for Aiden. By then, I was the only one whose feet weren't completely ragged (I spend nine hours a day at work on my feet, and another 1 to 2 working out. I'm used to it!) and this way Aiden was allowed to enjoy some stuff and sit down whenever he needed to. With the Universal package, if you stay on property, you also get what is called "express pass" which lets you pretty much bypass the lines. there were four rides that this did not work on. one was a kid's ride, one was a roller coaster, and the last was for harry potter and the forbidden journey. Mom and I went back into the park in the evening while the boys went to the pool. We were determined to get to and ride this ride. There are so many words I could use to describe the experience, but in reality, it's like nothing i've ever been on before. The entire Harry Potter universe completely takes my breath away
The only real hiccup on the trip was on the way home. Our flight from Chicago to Omaha was delayed almost five hours due to severe thunderstorms. The bright side of that? We were in the airport instead of on the plane. We made it home around 9 the night before Memorial Day.
We laughed, my God how we laughed. The only piece of the puzzle that was missing was my sister (and of course her boyfriend.)
It was great to get away from everything for close to two weeks. It allowed me to take into perspective a lot of things going on in my life. I am happier now than I have been in a long time, and I think a lot of that has to do with how I'm able to see the world, think positive on the majority of the situations I'm in, and just throwing more love at everything.
It's amazing how the world can bloom when you're able to love yourself, even if it's just a little.
LOVE that last sentence.
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