Back in September of 2021, Nate's parents surprised the entire family {all eleven of us} with a Disney Cruise. We were set to sail on December 27th thru the 31st on the Disney Wonder, leaving out of Galveston, TX. We were all so excited to do this together as a family!
And then our hopes and dreams were crushed...
The kiddos all had to be tested for Covid 3 days before our ship was set to sail. That meant they needed to be tested on Friday, December 24th...CHRISTMAS EVE!! And it had to be a PCR test, no rapid tests were accepted. Well, finding a place that was testing on Christmas Eve became quite the ordeal. We finally found a place, but they were only scheduling three days out. So, we couldn't even make an appointment until Wednesday, the 22nd. I was so worried about getting an appointment that I woke up at midnight to try (thinking the system would update then), but that wasn't the case. I couldn't sleep and literally tried every 30 minutes or so. Appointments had been filling up fast at this urgent care and I was terrified that we wouldn't get a timeslot. Finally, around 8:03 am on the 22nd the system updated and I found him an appointment. I was entering all of our info for an 8 am appointment on Christmas Eve...hit submit...and....get this message
"we're sorry, that timeslot has been filled. please select another time."
And wouldn't you know, it kept showing no more appointments available. I kept refreshing and refreshing and finally got an appointment for 8:06 am on Christmas Eve morning in Dallas. Our sister-in-law was in the same boat and kept getting the same message as us. She finally got an appointment for 8:13(ish) at the Fort Worth location! This was one of the very few urgent cares that 1.) were open on Christmas Eve, 2.) did PCR testing with same day results, and 3.) did testing strictly for travel purposes.
Nathan's mom came with Mason and me to our appointment. Nathan had to work a few hours that morning and was not able to go with us. We had a very pleasant appointment. The place was easy to find (especially for being in Dallas), the staff was kind, and we were in and out of there so quickly. We reiterated to them numerous times that we had no symptoms nor had we been around anyone with Covid, we were there only so we can go on a Disney cruise! They took Mason's vitals, talked to us a bit, swabbed him, and we were done! Easy as pie! So much easier than getting the appointment, that's for sure.
They told us we'd have our results back sometime later in the afternoon/early evening. However, I saw results pop up in my email before we even made it home to Dallas. I was so nervous to open it. Even though Mason was well, I worried. Our results were negative! Whew! We passed.
One step closer to that magical Disney Cruise...
Our nephew was Covid negative as well...but he tested positive for the flu! We were devastated. We knew the cruise was only looking for Covid results, but we worried what they might say to seeing the positive flu results. Our hope was that he was near the end of flu (didn't have many symptoms) and there were still 3 full days before we left. Kids bounce back quickly and it could turn out he wasn't contagious by the time we sailed.
We pushed on...
Fast forward to Sunday morning. We get a text from our sister-in-law (a different family than the one mentioned above) and she started feeling ill Saturday evening. She tested positive for Covid on Saturday morning. So she and Ty were out and couldn't come on the cruise.
We were so incredibly bummed. They were really looking forward to the cruise and had so many things booked.
We had to keep pressing on. We had insurance on all four staterooms, but it was a by-case basis. We couldn't just "reschedule" our whole trip unless the whole family was out for Covid, etc. Our plan was to leave on Sunday and drive to Galveston so that we were that much closer before we sailed on Monday. On the way there we get a text from the other family that our other nephew now had the flu and was at the dr with a high fever. So that put their family out as well.
That left the 5 of us...and our trip hinged on the Covid test we all had to take at the terminal. So nervewracking.
It was so hard to be in a state where extreme excitement and extreme sadness coexisted. We were ecstatic for the cruise, but so crushed that it wasn't panning out the way we wanted it to. I was heartbroken for Nate's mom. She really wanted this and planned it for everyone. I could tell how sad she was and it hurt my heart. However, we still had a very excited 11-year old that we had to be there for.
We had to make the best of the circumstances for him.
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