Barbaraann

My brother Alan recently passed away. He was 59 years old, but he was the baby of the family. Heart disease runs in our family. It took the life of my dad, and now both of my brothers. My dad in 1967 at the age of 53. My older brother in 1994, at the age of 48, and now my younger brother on June 20, 2012.

Alan had open heart surgery back in March. It was a double bypass and his prognosis was good, if he stayed away from both the alcohol, and the cigarettes that he always craved. ...

In two more days I will be arriving in California for my vacation. I am looking forward to being back at Disneyland. I am always happy when I am there. I will be traveling alone, but I am never lonely when I am there. Hopefully I will meet a few friends. I will get to hug some Disney characters, and I will travel to wonderful exotic locations in the form of rides and attractions.

I'll let you know the details when I return.

I always say if I don't have fun on vacation, ...

12 days from now I will be waking up in sunny California, and heading off to Disneyland. It will be the first day of 4 days in the park. I will spend most of my time in Disneyland, and not as much in DCA, because Carsland is not ready to be opened yet.

I am excited, but not overplanning at all, like I do sometimes for my trips. This one will be much more spontaneous than any of my past trips.

I understand that the weather in California in May is delightful.

My sister is one of those people who I always seem to only see and hear from during the bad times in our lives. I saw her a lot when my mom was in the nursing home, and dealing with Alzheimer's. Now that my brother has had a heart attack, and is facing open heart surgery tomorrow, I have seen and heard a lot from her lately as well.

I guess that I could call her more on the telephone. I guess I could try and visit her, even if she does live in the suburbs, and I don't drive. I ...

My Disneyland vacation is just 70 days away. I am really looking forward to my four glorious days in the parks.

Not looking forward to the actual traveling part. That is the one thing that I don't like about vacations. My flight is a late one this time. I don't leave Chicago until about 3 something p.m., which means that I arrive in Santa Ana, after 5 p.m. That's the latest that I have ever arrived.

It's probably better that way, since I am traveling on Memorial ...