Last weekend Sara and I snuck off without the kids for what was supposed to be a quick getaway prior to my kidney transplant. At this point, we’re looking at probably July at the earliest for said surgery, but the vacation was already booked and parents always need a vacation, so we went anyways…
We ended up at Animal Kingdom Lodge over at Disney World because we had some DVC points that were about to expire and that was the best choice for what we had. Even though I really love the aesthetic at Beach Club, AKL is probably my favorite Disney resort because it’s so unique, the animals are fun to watch, and there’s plenty to do without actually leaving the resort. Which we basically did, save for a few hours at Disney Springs to buy some Legos and go see a movie!
That said, this post isn’t really about my vacation as it is things that I learned/realized on my vacation – a lot of which revolved around my health because let’s be honest, I’ve been in and out of the hospital FOUR TIMES in the past couple of months and I’m not exactly at my peak physical condition by any stretch of the imagination…
I get tired really easily these days, meaning that physical exertion is rough – anything from taking out the trash or gathering clothes for the wash to walking from one end of a hotel to the other. My kidneys are HUGE to the point where they’re pressing on the rest of my organs and make it hard for me to breathe deeply, so I get winded far more easily than a father with three young children really should.
This was ok on this particular trip because it was just the two of us, so we could take breaks and catch our breaths as needed, yet the whole time I couldn’t help but think that the same activity or more with the kids really isn’t possible because they’re not going to want to sit around and wait when we’re running around a theme park! The last park we actually went to (Legoland), I had to rent a scooter, which was a big, old helping of humble pie but necessary for me to make it through the day.
That said, I managed to walk more in the last three days than I have in a long time – about 16,000 steps – compared to maybe a thousand if I’m just stumbling around the house.
I really want to commit myself to doing more of that, both before and after my kidney surgery, because I want to be able to take my family on a vacation for multiple days where we spend considerable time in the parks like we used to and not feel like I’m ready to die afterwards!!!
The other aspect of this, and it’s something that we both felt throughout the weekend, is that we miss going to Disney World. Aside from little half-trips where we’ve gone to either just our resort or other things we can do on the cheap, we haven’t taken our kids to Disney proper since David and Matthew aged out of their free tickets (at 3 years old, I believe?).
They’re eight now, so that’s five years without monorails and fireworks and photos with characters, and granted, I’m still very bitter at how expensive everything has gotten over there, but if money wasn’t a factor (along with my health), I have a feeling that we’d be over there a lot more often again, giving our kids memories like the ones that helped to grow the first half of our relationship together!
So those are my two challenges – health & money – and even though I’ve got a ton on my plate this year, I really want to try to make progress towards both of them because I think that in the end, my quality of life and general happiness will only benefit from them.
More to come soon, but for now here’s a cool picture of two giraffes!
