Last week was an oddly busy week. First, there were the things I had to take care of concerning the car accident. Even with a minor fender (or door) bender, there is still a list of annoying, time-sucking tasks to complete. Things like talking to the adjuster, getting estimates, sending pictures and documents, scheduling time for the repairs, lining up the rental car, and blah blah blah.

Then, there was Bill’s lifestyle change. As of Friday, he officially plunged us into the rockin’ party that is retirement, so there will be some adjustments around here, mainly me adjusting to him standing in my way whenever I need to be somewhere in this house. The man can’t tell you my eye color after 33 years of marriage, but he has this eerie ability to read my mind, know when I’m about to walk into a room, beat me there, and then stand in front of me, staring into space. Getting him to step out of the way is like trying to move a stubborn elephant, BTW.

Taking this step and retiring scary sh*t. It’s hard to believe that came out of my mouth, the risk-taker that I am, but lately, change has been scaring the sh*t out of me, especially when it involves our livelihood. Today, it has me bouncing between excitement and wanting to barf from nervousness, but on the bright side, the potential barfing might cause me to drop a few pounds, so there’s that.

On a side note, I’m exhausted. We babysat over the weekend and took our sweet little granddaughter to Disney World. Ye gads! What were we thinking!? It’s a miracle all three of us made home alive. Ha ha! I kid. She is a well-behaved, almost three-year-old. We only had one temper tantrum in two days. One night, she didn’t want to sleep in her bed at the hotel because she decided she WOULD SLEEP IN OUR BED, AND NO EXCEPTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS WOULD BE ACCEPTED!!

My God, the anger! The red-faced howling! Perhaps you heard it. Hopefully, it didn’t shatter the glass in your windows because it was touch and go for a bit at the Swan & Dolphin resort.

There were a few other things that made us snigger. For example, she decided the It’s A Small World Ride was dumb because there were no Barbies in it. She also demanded that we STOP SINGING during the Sing Along With Bell show and shoved her hand in Bill’s mouth to make her point, but she showed her appreciation later by saying, “You’re a good man, Pappy!” when Bill bought her an ice cream bar.

The highlight of the trip was meeting the princesses. We hustled around Magic Kingdom, trying to meet and see as many princesses as possible. Ainsley met Belle early in the day during the Storytime With Belle show. She was chosen to play a teacup in the show. She rehearsed her part, but when the real Belle appeared, she was so overcome with excitement that she forgot everything, ran across the room and nearly tackled poor Belle in a Mean Joe Greene style. Gosh, I wish I had THAT on video! Later in the afternoon, when she saw Belle in the parade, she thought Belle remembered her and was waving just to her. She blew Belle kisses and said, “Belle! Hi! It’s Ainsley. It’s MEEEEEEE!!”

That was some heart-touching Disney Magic right there. It made me forget the suckfest that is wrecked cars, the fears that accompany a new late-in-life career, and the exhaustion that comes from keeping a toddler alive for two days while sleeping sporadically because you’re awake most of the night listening to blubbery loud ass snores normally only heard from elephant seals or very old dogs. Oh, Billy McGinnis! We’ve got to do something about your nose noises before I smother you with a pillow.

All that aside, what a gift the weekend was! My mission was to capture, document, stay in the moment, and remember, and that I did.

Now, how about some photos? I took one or two jillion, so I have a few to share.