Runnin' with the Devil

Jessica was going through her intensive phase of chemotherapy, so while her treatment was not as intensive as Spencer's, she still got sick, needed blood transfusions, etc. Sandra was pregnant with Lauren, we knew her sex as we had gone through all the high risk pregnancy stuff. We were actively looking for a house. We had no proof that there was anything wrong with our house, but we were not comfortable staying there. We got rid of our water bed because we feared the water was amplifying any waves coming off the electric heater and might affect Lauren in utero. We were paranoid.

Sandra's brother Lauren was getting more ill too. We knew he was dealing with a malignancy of his own, but now it was getting critical. He was spending more and more time in the hospital. Lauren was Sandra's "Irish twin", born with in a year of each other, and her closest sibling.

The staff at CHOP offered us a wish through the Make A Wish foundation. Something they wanted to offer to Spencer, but never got the time. We picked a trip to Orlando. We arrived in Orlando and went to pick up our rental car. I decided at the last minute that we wanted to have a convertible and asked if it was possible. They asked if we had a lot of baggage and we said no, which was a lie. We had bags for the three of us and I had brought my golf clubs. They gave us a Ford Mustang convertible. These were the days when Mustangs were compact cars and there was no trunk room and the back seat was tiny. We made it work though. We jammed the clubs and two bags in the trunk and put the third bag in the back seat with Jessica.

We stayed at Walt Disney World, in a special compound with our own house that had over sized features to make it look like a story book house. Inside though we had a full kitchen, HC accessible bathroom with a roll-in shower and a refrigerator stuffed with snacks. Not that we needed a kitchen, there was a community building where you could get breakfast and lunch, and both lunch and dinner was available through vouchers in the Magic Kingdom or Epcot Center. Characters were all over the place on our compound too. So you didn't have to seek them out in the parks, they came to us. We spent one day each at the Disney resorts, as well as a day each at Universal, SeaWorld and a water park called Wet and Wild which Sandra renamed Wet and Splashy. Jessica wanted to play the games of chance, which Sandra and I hate, but we agreed to play a couple. The last one we played was the one where you throw softballs into the milk cans. We got three balls, one each. Jess missed, I missed, Sandra nails it. To which she exclaims "Oh, shit". We won! Jessica picked this huge, purple Tasmanian Devil. Three feet high and two feet wide. We carried him around for the rest of the day.

As much fun as we had in Orlando, we also wanted to spend a couple of days relaxing too. So we spent our last two days in Cocoa Beach, staying in a hotel on the beach and relaxing in the pool. We had a great drive over there, in the convertible, top down, beautiful day, radio blasting, sunglasses on, Jess and the Tasmanian Devil buckled up in the back seat.