Resolution:)

Well! That was easy:) All's well that ends well with family reunion logistics:) And it's coming up now much faster than I can believe it! I even started packing two days early to make sure I don't forget anything. Although, if I'm honest, there's still a distinct possibility I'll forget SOMETHING. It's a complicated trip with many considerations to take into account. But it's not like I've never traveled, or traveled on my own before! I'll probably end up bringing more than I use, even though I try to avoid over packing. I think I have all of the most important things:) This has been quite the surprise, seeing the ways other people handle traveling, and all the different considerations on THEIR end. I can absolutely understand how it would frazzle a person who's not usually able to travel because of caring for an elderly parent/differently-abled person to have to get their mind around the logistical nightmare such an undertaking can sometimes be! Anytime my late fiancé and I went anywhere, I would pack for both of us and INVARIABLY forget one thing or another. It's all just what you're used to dealing with vs. what you're all of a sudden forced to deal with. Likewise, I can understand why city and event planners don't always foresee the needs for the Disabled. When I went to the event at a high school (to which I really, really wanted to go, so it didn't really bother me that they were ill-equipped), I was just lucky enough to walk into the building and befriend a lady and her baby who made it their mission to find somebody who could get me into the event space and down to lower level without having to climb down the stairs with my walker--which would have been SUCH a pain. There were other people in wheelchairs and with their own walkers who figured it out without a helping hand, but had I not had one, I would have probably resigned myself to sitting way, way, way in the back, above the stage but far from it, so I couldn't see what was going on. So anyway, back to my original point; I can empathize with event planners who aren't used to having to accommodate people who CAN do stairs and people who CAN'T. When I think about it, why should they be? I saw one of the main "point men" for the organization; well-built and strong; nothing was gonna stop him! If you're used to dealing solely with people like that, of course it doesn't occur to you that there are people unlike him interested in the same event. Perhaps from now on the organizers will have learned their lesson:) The main thing that's important now is that in just about 48 hours, I'll be on my way to a family reunion that includes everybody, where everybody is accepted and looked after and their needs are ALL important.