Make a Wish

Today we leave for Owen's Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World.  For me, preparing for this trip has been a strange emotional roller coaster.  I never thought we would be a Make-a-Wish family.  Since Owen was little the nurses and social workers at CHOP suggested we apply but I always thought that other families were in greater need of these amazing trips. 

I went to the gym yesterday morning, to a step classes I used to religiously attend.  I haven't been there in a couple months.  One of the girls and I were catching up and I shared that we were leaving today for Disney on Owen's Make-a-Wish.  She was shocked...years of seeing Owen in the Kids Club, she never realized that he had any health issues. I told her that it all seems pretty normal....weekly visits to CHOP, years of chemo and many surgeries...it has been Owen's life since he was 2 months old.  I found myself saying that it's the times when Owen is off treatment and we have a break from CHOP that seems strange. At that point, she looked me in the eye and told me it's not normal.

Maybe in my reluctance to accept a Make-a-Wish trip for Owen I was trying to continue that everything is normal feeling...we strive to keep life as normal as possible.  In accepting this trip for Owen I think I have been anxious and not as excited as I should because this trip...this amazing opportunity for Owen is not normal.  It is very special and it honors and celebrates everything that he has gone through. I know we are going to have a great time. He certainly deserves this.

Well...that was a little too emotional and personal for my first post back after almost two years.  Sorry. Owen is asking to take bath and I have four hours to finish packing, clean the house, go for a run, stop at the post office.... Better get going :)

Testing....Testing....

We're leaving for Disney this morning and I have promised my mom and mother-in-law, both of whom wish they could stuff themselves in one of our suitcases, that I will blog our adventures.  I figured I better check the blog to make sure I remembered how to do this :)  Let's see if it works.