A Life Lesson from Great Wolf Lodge

Alex wiped out from water park fun

At first this might seem like a little bit of a superficial story but I can assure you this has great meaning in our lives. We kept asking other parents which water park we should take the kids to this year.  Our kids love the water and swimming and we've never been to a water park before.  We received all sorts of input, and saw everyone's awesome pics on Facebook, and finally took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge.  We knew it would be a challenge with 3 kids, ages 8, 5, and 3, and that they would certainly run off to 3 different places once in the water park.  We talked my sister, my brother in law, my nieces and nephew into going.  We literally couldn't have gone there without them!  Thank you so much to them!!  They made the trip fun, and really possible.  I should mention too that I was so impressed with the life guards there, what a well run and serious operation.

Dan was with Alex most of the time, and I was with Nick while Jack was running from ride to ride.  As parents we always align ourselves to the child whose weight and strength we can handle, as these guys grow my abilities become more and more limited!  We started to relax and really enjoy these precious childhood moments.   There are tons of parents and grandparents there and it's a great anthropological exercise on how people parent.  That's when I saw this beautiful Mom walking casually through the water park with her daughter.  There were a lot of Dads stealing a glimpse of this lady. She was one of those Moms who was unbelievably gorgeous, dark hair, tan, the whole package.  This Mom was so beautiful she was wearing a Target bikini and making it look like it was custom made for her.  If you've been inside Target this season, it's the turquoise polka dot bikini front and center in their bathing suit section.  At first she appeared just to be a regular Mom, but then we saw her at the snack bar.  Jack and Nick hadn't made their choices yet so I told beautiful Mom that she could go ahead of us.  She approached the snack bar, and I noticed that her daughter started to fling her head all over in excitement, and was having trouble controlling her body. Her daughter was a special needs child afflicted with some terrible condition.  As I watched them ahead of us at the snack bar, I saw her Mom pick out ice cream which made her daughter shake even more and rock.  The Mom ordered a light beer for herself. Then picked up her goods, and slowly and casually extended her left arm back as if she was just escorting her daughter off to a dance.  Her daughter placed her arm in hers, the Mom picked up her beer, and then went along laughing and smiling off to enjoy both of their treats.  Their walk was slow, and beer was spilled but the Mom looked confident, joyful, and appeared to not care that everyone was looking at her.  Was this Mom thinking well just go ahead and enjoy the view?  A simple scene of course but this really hit home with me, I am always proud of my kids but relaxed, casual and in control is something that's just evolving in our world of living with Hunter Syndrome...and really, 3 boys.  What I took away from this Mom was that I can take very good care of myself, I can be casual with my kids in public, I don't have to sprint after them or apologize all the time if something isn't perfect or possibly what people expect.

By looking for just a few moments through this woman's window into her world, I learned a whole bunch about mine.  I can have a light beer, and relax and enjoy life!  When things get hard, it's so easy to stay in your home, and frankly hide from the world.  Difficult diseases demand a lot including time and attention, things happen, and many times things don't go to plan or you're surprised by surgeries or hospital visits, yep in the moment these need your attention but in times when life might be at a steady pace it's not a bad idea to take care of yourself.  I've been running a lot to take care of myself, and leave some stress on the treadmill or pavement, and it feels great! My time doesn't come easy but I have learned I have to take it or I'll never, ever get it!  Somehow I am not selfish enough, and there's always something I place as a priority over me. Just even writing me, me, me feels selfish.  I am so proud of these Moms and especially proud of Moms and Dads with special needs or medically challenged children.  I often hear one my friends call his wife a MILF, and that makes me happy because they remember who they are and it shows their strength and love for one another.  Whether you're a MILF on the inside, a MILF on the outside, or lucky enough to be both, I am so proud to see you all go out there and get life!

As Dr. Dre puts it, "By no means average She's on when she's got to have it Baby you're a perfect 10, I wanna get in Can I get down so I can win" 

Dan, my husband, still says to this day that he has no idea who I am talking about which is funny because I think just about everyone in the entire water park saw this gal.  We'll let him think I believe that (he proofs this blog with his input too).  For that single day of joy and enlightenment, I want to thank the turquoise polka dot bikini lady for making me see what's possible!  Thank you, you've just made my family's life and mine a whole lot clearer and better!  We've been taking the kids to more events, keep challenging and pushing ourselves to get out and about and enjoy the world!  We revel in every event we're able to complete with 3 to even 7 boys in tow!  Like the recent monster truck event we went to, who knows maybe we're even working up to boarding a plane and finally taking a much needed vacation this year!  We're not going to put any limits on the possibilities.  Sometimes it takes seeing someone else in action to know what you're capable of as well.

Nicholas & his cousin

The Cherrstroms