by Melva Jeter
With the summer, comes the NFED annual Family Conference, this year in Orlando, Florida. Now, being from Colorado, I thought it was incredibly cool in 2010 when the conference was in Colorado Springs, but Orlando? And so close to Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World? This is a kid’s dream-come-true year! My family took a trip to Disney World in 2007, when my son Christien, who has HED was 7. For those of you worried about temperatures at the parks, let me assure you, it is extremely manageable.
First you would be hard pressed to find a hotel that doesn’t have a pool. Second, when visiting the parks, there are an abundance of attractions that have air conditioning, as well as the food stands, so you’re never far from cool air. Also, Disney now offers “fast pass” to most of their rides. If you arrive at the “Toy Story” ride for example, and the line is around the building, just go to the kiosk and get a “fast pass” it will give you a time (usually about an hour later) when you can come back, get it in the “fast pass” line, and smile apologetically at all the folks standing in line as you board the ride with no wait! Last, invest in a spray bottle (they sell the kind with the fan attached at the parks and at the Family Conference) and visit one of their AWESOME water parks!
The NFED conference will prove to be just as memorable as Mickey and Minnie. Little kids will eventually learn that Mickey, Minnie, Buzz and Woody are fictional characters, and the one’s whose autograph you got in the park may have been one of four people who wore the costume throughout the day, but Ally, Zach, Christien and Alex are very real people, who are very much just like themselves. These are the friends they will make at Conference with whom they can write a letter, email, call and see again at a future conference. These friends will age, and grow and have very similar issues that they themselves may be having.
Mickey Mouse may be timeless, but the friends made at conference are priceless!
getting excited to meet everyone and see Joshua’s reaction to meeting others who are affected. with ED.