joyfulDisneytears
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2010
Hi folks! My name's Dana, and this will be my very first TR ever, so bear with me! It's just going to be a mini TR about my quick trip to the Phoenix, AZ area over Labor Day weekend to visit my DBF, Jared.
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The (very small) cast of characters:
Me - Indianapolis native, lived here my whole life. I am technically unemployed, but take care of my 94-year-old grandma about 50 hours a week in her home. I live with my parents and my Himalayan cat, Smokey.
DBF - Phoenix/Chandler native. Student at ASU in the Computer Engineering program. Works doing email and in-person customer service. He lives with his parents and his dog, Max.
"Umm...so how the heck did you guys get together living so far apart and whatnot?" - We met online a little over 4 years ago while playing MMORPGs (yeah, super nerdy ...neither of us have much interest in it anymore, but I feel it served its greater purpose by bringing us together!). He came to visit me a fair few times and we started 'officially' dating in 2008. We now travel back and forth between Indy and Phoenix to visit each other every couple months or so, usually for a week or more at a time. We've been to Las Vegas, WDW, & Cancun together, along with various work trips (sometimes I get lucky and can get temp work with the company he contracts with), and a couple short road trips. My eventual plan is to move to Phoenix, hopefully within the next couple years...We'll both find jobs, finish school, get married, and live happily ever after. Getting a little ahead of myself, there.
Here's us at WDW in October 2008:
And at his brother's wedding this June:
____
This trip came about pretty suddenly. We usually plan things fairly far in advance, but we realized during the last full week of August that DBF had a free flight on Southwest that was going to expire on September 13th! How in the world did we let that get by us for so long?
A trip was definitely in order! It seemed really silly to have the opportunity for one of us to visit the other for free and not take it.
We determined it had to be me that flew out to Phoenix instead of him coming here to Indy, because he has classes every weekday. We didn't want him to miss anything important!
Now, when I try to get out of town, it's a little more complicated than you might think. As I said above, I am one of the primary caregivers for my grandma. I'm there Monday-Friday from about 9 AM to 6 or 7 PM. She needs someone with her 24 hours a day...my dad and aunt take care of the other hours. They both work regular weekday hours, which is why I am at Grandma's then...we don't want her to have to be in a nursing home, and home health aides are *expensive*!
Anywho, I was trying to fly out on Friday, September 3. That meant I needed someone to care for Grandma that day! Also, I planned on returning on Monday, so someone would have to cover that day as well (not as big a deal because everyone is off work for Labor Day anyway.)
My dad had just taken over a week off to go on a trip to Florida to golf with a buddy of his that lives down there. (Yes, he played a WDW course or two...I was super jealous he got to just be on Disney property! ) My aunt works for Meals on Wheels here in Indy and is constantly swamped at work. Things were not looking good when it came to someone being able to take off work to stay with Grandma!
Luckily, my mom took pity on me and decided that she would go over to Grandma's in my place for Friday. She could tell that I'd been a little bummed in general lately (we all are really - lots of family hardship happening) and that I was getting really upset when it looked like I wouldn't be able to get away and have fun for a few days. She had never stayed with Grandma before, but I wrote out a bunch of notes on how the days usually go and told her many times to call me if she needed *anything*.
DBF got online and booked my FREE flights, and I was officially on my way to Phoenix for Labor Day weekend!
_____
The (very small) cast of characters:
Me - Indianapolis native, lived here my whole life. I am technically unemployed, but take care of my 94-year-old grandma about 50 hours a week in her home. I live with my parents and my Himalayan cat, Smokey.
DBF - Phoenix/Chandler native. Student at ASU in the Computer Engineering program. Works doing email and in-person customer service. He lives with his parents and his dog, Max.
"Umm...so how the heck did you guys get together living so far apart and whatnot?" - We met online a little over 4 years ago while playing MMORPGs (yeah, super nerdy ...neither of us have much interest in it anymore, but I feel it served its greater purpose by bringing us together!). He came to visit me a fair few times and we started 'officially' dating in 2008. We now travel back and forth between Indy and Phoenix to visit each other every couple months or so, usually for a week or more at a time. We've been to Las Vegas, WDW, & Cancun together, along with various work trips (sometimes I get lucky and can get temp work with the company he contracts with), and a couple short road trips. My eventual plan is to move to Phoenix, hopefully within the next couple years...We'll both find jobs, finish school, get married, and live happily ever after. Getting a little ahead of myself, there.
Here's us at WDW in October 2008:
And at his brother's wedding this June:
____
This trip came about pretty suddenly. We usually plan things fairly far in advance, but we realized during the last full week of August that DBF had a free flight on Southwest that was going to expire on September 13th! How in the world did we let that get by us for so long?
A trip was definitely in order! It seemed really silly to have the opportunity for one of us to visit the other for free and not take it.
We determined it had to be me that flew out to Phoenix instead of him coming here to Indy, because he has classes every weekday. We didn't want him to miss anything important!
Now, when I try to get out of town, it's a little more complicated than you might think. As I said above, I am one of the primary caregivers for my grandma. I'm there Monday-Friday from about 9 AM to 6 or 7 PM. She needs someone with her 24 hours a day...my dad and aunt take care of the other hours. They both work regular weekday hours, which is why I am at Grandma's then...we don't want her to have to be in a nursing home, and home health aides are *expensive*!
Anywho, I was trying to fly out on Friday, September 3. That meant I needed someone to care for Grandma that day! Also, I planned on returning on Monday, so someone would have to cover that day as well (not as big a deal because everyone is off work for Labor Day anyway.)
My dad had just taken over a week off to go on a trip to Florida to golf with a buddy of his that lives down there. (Yes, he played a WDW course or two...I was super jealous he got to just be on Disney property! ) My aunt works for Meals on Wheels here in Indy and is constantly swamped at work. Things were not looking good when it came to someone being able to take off work to stay with Grandma!
Luckily, my mom took pity on me and decided that she would go over to Grandma's in my place for Friday. She could tell that I'd been a little bummed in general lately (we all are really - lots of family hardship happening) and that I was getting really upset when it looked like I wouldn't be able to get away and have fun for a few days. She had never stayed with Grandma before, but I wrote out a bunch of notes on how the days usually go and told her many times to call me if she needed *anything*.
DBF got online and booked my FREE flights, and I was officially on my way to Phoenix for Labor Day weekend!