Fantasy Flight

December 24, 2014

Fantasy Flight

A few weeks ago Waverly & Oliver's principal called to let us know that he had nominated us for United's Fantasy Flight and we got a spot. We had to be at Dulles airport early on a Saturday morning for a flight to the North Pole.

It was an amazing experience. United offers this special flight once a year around Christmas. Children in hospice or those with a terminal illness are flown to the North Pole (i.e. a terminal decorated to look like the North Pole) to meet Santa. The plane was totally decorated and the flight attendants came around with tons of candy for the kids. There were wearing costumes and sang. And for about 20 minutes we flew around over DC (ahem or using magic elf dust to the NP).

Once we landed we were greeted by tons of people in costumes. There was lots of food, crafts, games. And of course a visit to Santa where the kids were given a gigantic bag full of toys. The kids had a fantastic time. And Matt & I were certainly overwhelmed by the love and support shown to our family and others within our community. What a special day it was for us.

Thanks to Mr C and his wife for making this day possible!!

Comments

Hummel Family said…

How neat!!!!! Sounds like a fun experience for all 4 of you. :)

JoEllen from Ohio

December 28, 2014 at 1:19 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.