Time Warp

No I’m not talking Rocky Horror, although I could discuss the subject in great length, I’m talking about the time warp that comes before a holiday.  Those few days/weeks whatever while you anticipate a vacation and time begins to play tricks. It moves at a snail’s pace one moment and the next it feels like time is skipping ahead days at a time.

While I’ve felt this kind of time slip a few times before never has it been so pronounced as with our next vacation.  From the moment our oldest was born Disney became the ideal place to go, the most anticipated something we would HAVE to do.  

Disney World is of course quite far from Winnipeg and while it may be the most magical place on earth it is also one of the most expensive.  So it got put off again and again until finally we realized that time was slipping by and the only way it would happen is if we made it happen.

The girls are now 13 and 8 respectively and it feels like they are just the right age to go now.  The more I think about it the better I feel that we waited until now to make it happen.  At 13 our oldest is not so far gone up the parent’s are un-cool path to harbor any negativity about family vacations and our youngest isn’t so young that she won’t remember the trip.

I went to Disneyland when I was 5 and besides a few snippets which may not be memories at all but often heard stories I remember almost nothing.  I would rather they both remember this trip because we may never get a chance to go again.  Mind you it felt like we would never get this first chance to go yet here I am in the ever shortening time until we leave.

I’m enjoying the anticipation to be honest, and in some ways I don’t want to get there because then it will mean we’re that much closer to it being over.  Where though has the time flown?  How can each minute seem so agonizingly long, my mind packed with thoughts and plans but the days themselves disappearing so quickly.

It is a time warp, a magical place where anticipation and enthusiasm create a strange state of mind.  It’s all in my head and as a favorite book once said “why should that make it any less real?”

All Coming Together

Well our bags are not packed but everything else needed for our upcoming Orlando trip is coming together. I'm actually running out of things to do and as everything ordered slowly trickles in I'm finding the anticipation is growing. 

I've possibly gone overboard in terms of organizing things but I'm also hoping to make this the best trip possible and anything I can do now that makes that more likely I'm doing.  Then again it's Disney World just being there will make it perfect.   

One of the things I’m anticipating the most is telling the kids.  When we began planning it was almost certain but both my husband and I are very much of the won’t believe it till we see it persuasion and wanted to be 100% sure nothing was going to foul up our plans before telling them. During that time the idea of surprising them became more and more appealing and so we decided to do it.

My oldest is a very big fan of Harry Potter and as we are also visiting Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I decided a Hogwarts acceptance letter would be the best for her. For our youngest a letter from Cinderella asking her to visit her castle seemed perfect.

 I’ve spent quite a bit of time on each of their letters ensuring they are as just right. They are now done and sealed awaiting for the day before our trip.  We are telling them then as the dog being taken to the kennel is guaranteed to tip them off.

I’ve been surprised at what we’ve been able to do with them around and not set off their suspicions.  We’ve given them honestly valid reasons for all the things we are buying and doing so I suppose that is why. 

I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when asking our oldest to check the mail results in the surprise of their lives.

Shipwrecks Sail Again

I’ve been feeling off this week, my normal optimism waning and the things I love to do not holding as much interest as usual.  It seems that frustration is plaguing my every waking moment and I seem to have an endless cycle of thoughts running through my mind.  There seems to be an unprecedented number of challenges that seem to be without solution that I find I’m unable to escape thoughts of.

I do believe this week is feeling a little overwhelming as I’ve been feeling rather sick to my stomach the past couple of days and I know I haven’t been getting nearly enough sleep.  I also don’t sit idle very well but with my energy levels rather drained from this flu/cold/whatever it is makes it hard to get moving.

This is why I’m so looking forward to tomorrow evening when I have an activity guaranteed to get me going and focus my thoughts elsewhere. Dragon boat practices begin tomorrow and I can’t explain how much I’m looking forward to getting out on the water.  

I’ve been craving the feel of being on the water for a while now, the coolness rising from the river, the sound of gentle waves lapping at the boats edge, the pull of water against the paddle.  Everything about paddling in a dragon boat team feels rewarding and satisfying.

The count of one, two, three, four ringing in my head drives out all other thoughts focusing my mind completely on the task at hand.  Staying in rhythm with the others gives me a feeling of focus and determination.   Alone none of us would be able to move the long boat against the current but together we have amazing strength and the boat reaches amazing speeds.

It is in those moments, when we all paddle in perfect harmony that I am anticipating, when there is no thought only rhythm and strength carrying us all forward.