Every cloud has a silver lining | pad patter 12.3.19

[keepscrappin]

The idiom “every cloud has a silver lining” is a beautiful image, representing an attitude of finding the positive in any situation - no matter how challenging it might be. It’s more than just believing that good things are to come - it’s an understanding that every negative is actually a positive, depending on how you see it.

This past week we faced many clouds during our trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios. It rained for 3 of the 4 days we were there. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The skies just opened and dumped on us. I was so disappointed because this was our DIL's first time to California and the amusement parks and I wanted the trip to be perfect, but it all worked out in the end.

The first day the rain soaked us while we were waiting to get into Universal Studios so we dashed to the first store we saw and bought rain ponchos. The silver lining to all the rain was that it kept people away so the crowds weren't too bad. We walked right onto the Wizarding World of Harry Potter ride twice during our first 20 minutes in the park. We never would have been able to do that on the day before Thanksgiving if the weather had been nice.

Another silver lining was the FREE hot chocolate Universal was serving in a shop by the Transformers ride. It was just what I needed to see the positive side of the rain and was such a nice gesture from Universal. They could have easily made a huge profit on the hot chocolate on such a cold, rainy day but instead they showed kindness and earned customer goodwill.

Thanksgiving Day at Disneyland was the worst for the rain, but the crowds were smaller during the morning so that's when we hit all the rides. We were completely soaked by noon, even with ponchos, so we headed back to the hotel to dry off and rest. It worked out perfectly because right at the time we we were getting to our room, we got a surprise video call from our DD who is serving a mission in Argentina. We were able to talk to her and get dry and rested before our Thanksgiving dinner reservation at Goofy's Kitchen.

So enough about my rainy trip and silver linings. I want to hear about your silver linings. Big or small we all have had a silver lining. Please share a silver lining you've had.

 

[tkradtke]

This past week we faced many clouds during our trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios.

Wait!!! Did we just miss each other? Clara and I were at Disneyland Sunday through Wednesday (we flew home Thanksgiving morning). We had pouring rain Wednesday morning at Disneyland but it honestly ended up being our best day! We rode 11 rides (including the new Millennium Falcon one) by 1pm. By that time we were soaked, so we left the park, stopped to grab JimBoy's tacos on the walk home and impulse bought cheap comfy Mickey Mouse pj pants at CVS. When we got back to the room, we changed into our dry comfy clothes and watched movies the rest of the day. It really turned out to be a great day!

Our other recent silver lining thing was Clara's recent hospital stay. About a month ago, she got incredibly sick and was sent to the ER. She had a bad throat infection and they thought maybe she had an abscess in her tonsils. Because of that they rushed her to have a CT scan there in the ER. Turns out, that she didn't have an abscess, but they did find a tumor on her salivary gland. She was admitted to the hospital and they were able to do an ultrasound and a biopsy right away. It is benign, but it is a type of tumor that if left alone, can turn malignant. Who knows how long it would have taken us to discover this had she not gotten so sick and sent to the ER?? So although the throat infection was horrible and she missed a week of school.... it helped them discover this tumor in an early stage so they can take care of it before it becomes a problem.

 

[keepscrappin]

Wait!!! Did we just miss each other? Clara and I were at Disneyland Sunday through Wednesday (we flew home Thanksgiving morning). We had pouring rain Wednesday morning at Disneyland but it honestly ended up being our best day! We rode 11 rides (including the new Millennium Falcon one) by 1pm. By that time we were soaked, so we left the park, stopped to grab JimBoy's tacos on the walk home and impulse bought cheap comfy Mickey Mouse pj pants at CVS. When we got back to the room, we changed into our dry comfy clothes and watched movies the rest of the day. It really turned out to be a great day!

Our other recent silver lining thing was Clara's recent hospital stay. About a month ago, she got incredibly sick and was sent to the ER. She had a bad throat infection and they thought maybe she had an abscess in her tonsils. Because of that they rushed her to have a CT scan there in the ER. Turns out, that she didn't have an abscess, but they did find a tumor on her salivary gland. She was admitted to the hospital and they were able to do an ultrasound and a biopsy right away. It is benign, but it is a type of tumor that if left alone, can turn malignant. Who knows how long it would have taken us to discover this had she not gotten so sick and sent to the ER?? So although the throat infection was horrible and she missed a week of school.... it helped them discover this tumor in an early stage so they can take care of it before it becomes a problem.

Yes, we just missed you at Disneyland. We were at Universal on Wednesday and started our at Disney on Thursday.

I'm so glad they found Clara's tumor early. I hope she has a speedy recovery when they take out the tumor. A similar scenario happened when they found my hubby's stage 2 colon cancer 9.5 years ago. They thought he had appendicitis but when they went in to take out his appendix they found it engulfed by an orange-sized tumor. He was only 39 years old and no other signs of colon cancer so it would have been a long time before he would have had a colonoscopy to find it.

 

[tkradtke]

@keepscrappin I can't believe we were so close to meeting!

And it's it crazy how these things work out? It's like a gut punch when you first get the news because it wasn't at all where your mind was going when you went in... but then you're just so thankful that it allowed the issue to be found so much earlier than it would have otherwise!!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Wow, you two just missed each other at Disneyland!! Wouldn't that have been something to have run into each other? Your other health silver linings are so similar too.

I can't think of a silver lining story right at the moment, but I will. We went to Disney World a couple of years ago now and met my brother and his family, who came from Colorado. It rained so hard and I had to chuckle, Kayla, because the first thing we did was head to a store to buy Disney rain ponchos. I still have mine. It was so wet and miserable but we had a great time in spite of the weather. We caught a break because the second day it started clearing off and got beautiful. Glad everything turned out well for you and what a blessing to get to talk to your daughter.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Well, here's my silver lining. We had to move into a larger home a few months ago to accommodate our DD and GS, who's 8, coming to live with us. We needed at least one more bedroom and one more bathroom. In order to get what we needed, size-wise, and for about the same price, I had to sacrifice my pool and screened-in lanai/cage for that extra room. (Pool homes cost more than non-pool homes.) So, we found a home that had the size we needed, but without my pool. I've never not had a pool in all the years we've lived in Florida and I've been, secretly, a little resentful about it.

Fast-forward a few months - to the silver lining. The neighborhood we came from had no sidewalks, no kids and hardly any other dogs. When we moved to this neighborhood, suddenly we had lots of dogs, lots of kids and sidewalks! At first, it was so hard to walk Daisy and because of all the distractions (kids, dogs, etc.) my DH had to walk her. We started working on her together and now - here's the silver lining - I walk her - by myself - and we both enjoy it so much! I had a guy (walking 3 dogs) this afternoon - tell me what a good dog I have. We've trained her to "sit" when other dogs walk past us and it's like a miracle! I told him thanks, but we had worked really hard to get her to this point.

I hope you can all see this silver lining - I just love walking my dog now and I don't have to go into "panic mode" when we see other dogs coming toward us or coming behind us.