Blog hog today, but I wanted this one to be separate. Curious what everyone's thoughts are on this situation.

So, SD10 has a somewhat rare heart condition that is life-threatening, but well under control by meds. She hasn't had issues with it since they discovered it when she was 3. While she can do most activities like cheerleading, volleyball, short-track events, etc, she can't play basketball and isn't supposed to go on rides anymore (although she has always gone on rides with both Crazy and us, it only changed when we took her on a roller-coaster and Crazy decided that was unacceptable, even though SD wears a fitbit and we were monitoring her heartrate and it never got elevated even close to the dangerous range). Anyway, she has a monitor in her chest that alerts her Dr.'s if something is irregular with her heart, and she carries a defribillator just in case, although that is really for when more physical activity is happening. She also takes meds 3 times a day.

About a month ago, SD's Dr. contacted my SO and Crazy and said that this is the age she usually refers her patients for Make-A-Wish. She said she does this since they can't do all of the "normal" activities most kids can, and they can start to feel left out or different. My SO and I didn't realize Make-A-Wish was for that, we thought it was for terminally ill people. Still, we felt very hesitant about this. For one, SD for the most part leads a very normal life. There are very few things she can't actually do. We take her on vacations, and she definitely is not wanting for anything. Up until May, we actually had planned on taking skids to Disney, but Crazy ruined that by calling CPS on us for taking her on 1 roller-coaster and making it such a huge deal that we feel like we couldn't take her on anything at all (it should be noted that 2 months later, Crazy turned around and took SD to the carnival in our town and let her ride ALL of the rides, which is just mind-boggling, since she had just gotten the Dr. to agree that small rides are just as bad as roller-coasters), so we decided not to and are taking them to Mexico in March instead, but Crazy said she was going to save $ and take them to Disney herself. She seems to have all of this money lately, she can do it. But we knew that they would want the trip to Disney for her Wish, and sure enough- we got the paperwork in the mail to fill out for Make-A-Wish, and SD asked me last night what I thought about it. Before I could answer she said that "they" (her mom) just thought that her dad and I think Make A Wish is for people who are dying, and that she doesn't need a wish and doesn't need to go to Disney. I told her that I think the wish can be a good thing, and It's not that I think she doesn't deserve one, I think she does, but we just want her to think about all of the options before she just decides on something like, say, Disney. Because she is very lucky, and gets to travel, so we want to make sure she really thinks about her options and does something she really wants to do in her heart. SD is a very generous kid, and I love when kids do something with their wish that benefits more than just themselves. I explained that to her, but said that if, after she has really thought about options, she decided her Wish was to go to Disney, that she should do what she really wanted.

She then went on to say she wanted to meet princesses and they give you a coloring book to draw the one place you could travel if you could go anywhere, and she wanted to draw Florida but she doesn't know anything about Florida.......(yes Disney is there, but she has never mentioned going to Florida before at all). Here's where this feels wrong- Crazy is a leech- she will take a handout in a heartbeat. She has no qualms about using a wish for a free trip to Disney, even if she could have gotten the money to go herself. And I heard it mentioned that her 21yr old daughter would be going also. So, it seems like it's all but decided, because she has had so much time with SD and they've had a week to plan it all, that they are going to talk to the Make-A-Wish wish-granters, and pitch their Disney idea. I'm not sure how it works with divorced families, if they send both sides? But my SO doesn't want to go, and I wouldn't either. We just don't feel right about the whole situation. It really feels like a free grab for a trip by Crazy, and you're telling me she's going to take her to Disney and NOT let her go on any rides? I'm sure she will, so now she's taking her to Disney with her wish, and letting her go on rides that she's not even supposed to go on because of her heart-condition (the Dr. specifically said she shouldn't even go on the Teacups). And a kid who is going on a week-long all-inclusive trip to Mexico in March, then is going to have an all-expenses trip paid for by Make-A-Wish later in the year? Ick. We don't want to force her to do anything- it is her wish. But we also know shes the kind of kid who can be giving and do something that isn't driven by her greedy mom.

The Make-A-Wish people will talk to my SO also, and he does plan on just explaining his concerns, and I think this week we'll encourage SD to think of a bunch of options, since Crazy tunnel-visioned her into Disney. We'll see. We really just want her to make sure she explores her options before deciding.