My Last Disney Cruise with Dad

I was very lucky growing up I was extremely close with my parents. I enjoyed their company and we did many things together. As time went on and I married, when they became grandparents I think they were the happiest I had ever seen them. They loved being grandparents, having their grandchildren sleep over, walking them around in strollers and just spending time with them.

Due to problems in my marriage I moved back in with my parents and was fortunate to be back home to spend what would be the last couple of years with my mother. After she died, my dad lost his will to live. He became extremely depressed and would wind up having many health issues for the next few years on and off. Even though I know he loved my children and me he just could not fully be happy, without my mother in his life anymore.

He tried really hard to be happy and still went out with his friends and tried to live. It became harder and harder for him to cope with life without my mother. It also became harder and harder for my children and myself to watch this down hill spiral that he was on. This went on for four years. We watched him go in and out of the hospital and so many times we thought he was not going to be able to come back home.

He came up with an idea to go back on the Disney Cruise. We had gone on the Disney Cruise years before and it was truly a wonderful experience. There was so much to see and do on the cruise; we truly had the time of our lives. Castaway Key, Disney's own island and beach was just the most beautiful ocean water we had ever swam in. My dad came up with the plan for us all to go one last time.

Shortly after all the plans were made, the kids were so anxious, as were my husband and myself my dad's illnesses took a turn for the worse. He kept going into congestive heart failure and started looking very frail. I spoke with him and told him we shouldn't take the cruise; I didn't feel it was safe for him to travel. He told me that his last dying wish was to put his feet one last time in the ocean waters of Castaway Key. I spoke with his doctors and they told me that I should let him go and have his last wish.

Traveling with my dad in his condition at that time was extremely hard on all of us. He couldn't really walk too well, so we had to arrange for a special motorized wheelchair for him. When we docked in Nassau Bahamas for the day the motorized wheelchair wouldn't work on the streets of the Bahamas so we had to use a regular wheelchair in 90-degree heat and push him around.

The next day was the day we were to dock on Castaway Key. We woke up to messages that due to a hurricane the waters were not allowing the boat to dock and that the captain would keep trying. Knowing that this was my dad's dream it was very upsetting to hear we may not make it to the island after all. For hours the captain would try and fail to be able to dock.

Miraculously, after many hours of trying the captain was able to dock the ship. Most of the day was already lost and we were not given much time to explore the island. We ventured off the boat and started the long walk to the beach. Once again it was hot and with my dad in his condition this was not an easy task to accomplish. There was just so far the motorized wheelchair would go so my dad with our help had to walk quite a bit to get to the ocean.

The look on his face when his feet got into that ocean is something I will remember for the rest of my life. That short time on the beach took a lot out of him and then the trip back home the next day was a lot for him to handle. It was only a few days after we returned from this trip that my dad went into the hospital and was never to return home to us.

Life is about living, life is about dreams and each day we are here is truly a gift. Even though for me this was not a trip I remember for all the happy memories. It was about giving my dad his one final wish and dream. He got to put his feet in the waters of that ocean one last time and then was taken to heaven to be with my mother, the one he wanted to be with more than anything.

I will never forget this vacation or the look on my dad's face. I can look at it and be happy and I can look at it and feel sad. I watched someone say goodbye to something he loved and I made a last dream come true. Always follow the path of your dreams, for in the end it's not all about you, but what you did for others.