Fairy Tales Can Come True (Part I)

I'd like to share with you one of the most amazing things ever to happen to me, but to put it in context and convey the magnitude, I have to start from the beginning. This is going to be a long post (hence the two parts) but I promise it'll be worth it. 

I read a book a few months ago that briefly mentioned manifesting your goals. I've read stuff like that a few times before but what struck me about this book was how it said:

...all we have to do is align our energy with what we want and take decisive action to allow this good into our lives....This can't just be rattling off nonsense--you have to feel it and want it and get worked up by it in order for it to work.

Your job isn't to know the how, it's to know the what and to be open to discovering, and receiving, the how. 

- Jen Sincero, You Are a Badass 

That got me thinking. For the first time, the whole manifestation "thing" felt attainable and I wanted to give it a try. But having spent more than a decade working on living 'in the present moment' added to the fact that my future is greatly unpredictable for obvious reasons, I'm not much of a dreamer. I also don't place much value on material objects, so manifesting something like a fancy car would be fruitless. 

I had to think long and hard about what was most important to me. I already have all the things I value: a ton of love in my life, deep connections with friends and family, and health (relatively speaking). What did I want that I didn't already have?

At the top of my list was a vacation with my family. That was something that had been weighing heavily upon my heart for quite some time. I hadn't been on a vacation in 8 years and Myles had never been. Not to pull the "CF card" but it's a reality that living with a chronic, life-shortening illness creates a subconscious pressure to capitalize on the time I have with my family now because I've seen time and time again how CF can change entire lives in an instant and often without warning. I know how special vacation memories can be and desperately wanted to make some with Myles. Not to mention that at 7-years-old, he's nearing the cusp of viewing even the smallest of things as magical miracles, in the depths of pure wonderment.

Being unable to work because my health is so tumultuous, it was starting to feel as though it wasn't going to happen and that was a hard pill to swallow. What did I have to lose by giving this manifestation thing a shot? Not much. So I bought a cork board and printed out some images of things that mattered most to me. In true procrastinating fashion, the corkboard is still in its wrapper and my pictures are still paperclipped in a pile on my bureau, but I did think about that vacation and what it would mean to me Every. Single. Day. I didn't just think about it, I felt it in my bones and truly believed it was going to happen. 

So much so that at a party a friend of mine and I were talking about how he'd just taken a family vacation for the same reasons I wanted to: to shore up some happy long-term memories for his kids. Connecting with me in that respect, he made it his night's mission to figure out how I could make this happen; he just wasn't letting it go, which was very sweet. At one point I grabbed his arm and said "Don't worry about it, Pete. I'm manifesting it through the Universe." Like most would respond, he rolled his eyes and looked at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I was, but I owned it with conviction.

Then literally a few days later, the unimaginable happened.

I was out for my morning walk, connected to my "zen" when I got a phone call from my friend who helps run Meghan's Light. Meghan's Light is a nonprofit organization created to honor the legacy of Meghan, a fellow CF cyster who went to the same CF clinic I do, who had one child--a son the same age as Myles--and who was only one year older than me when she unexpectedly passed away. There are many parallels between Meghan and me and the people from Meghan's Light are a kind and thoughtful bunch, so I instantly felt a kinship with them. 

I originally connected with them last winter when I was struggling to get healthy and they gifted me with Reiki, salt therapy & massage visits to help complement all the IV antibiotics I was on. We became fast friends but I never saw that phone call coming...

My ML friend called me to let me know that special someone(s) had Disney points that were about to expire and they were unable to use them, did I want them? In complete disbelief and having no clue about Disney points, she had to explain it to me a few times until I could wrap my head around it. It was enough points to give us a free place to stay for one week at a Disney resort. FREE! And because we had to use the points quickly, she also graciously offered us some financial help with airfare. WHAT?!?! 

My eyes welled up with tears, which quietly started to roll down my cheeks that were now hurting from smiling so big. My first thought was OMG, this manifesting thing really works!! My second thought was to call my mom and invite her along to share this incredible gift, as she always puts herself last and deserved a vacation more than anyone. When I told her the big news we both cried together. 

From there, things began to snowball and the dazzling beauty of human kindness washed over us like a tsunami. One kind soul gave us 4 tickets to Magic Kingdom, another gave us 4 tickets to Animal Kingdom, and others gave gift cards to help us make some of the special memories I so desperately hoped for. It was overwhelming and there were many tears shed. 

What an incredible gift! I felt immense gratitude, deeply moved, extremely excited, and a little undeserving of such generosity. This meant so much to me (and my family) for so many reasons and my heart couldn't handle it all.  

It blew my mind that all of this was happening because of an angel I never had the honor of meeting and the earth angels she brought into my life. I never lost sight of that and carried Meghan's memory with me on the trip. 

Before we knew it, it was time for Myles' first time on a jet and we were up up and away...