Everyone looks forward to vacations. We plan months ahead of time and there is so much built up hype but some times it doesn't go quite like you imagined it. This is a story about my family vacation that took place in February of 2012. (I'm pretty positive, it was awhile ago)

We started off by planning a rare family vacation to visit my grandparents in Florida. We were including Busch Gardens, Universal, and even Sea World. Being only the second time I've been to Florida, I was incredibly excited to go back and actually be old enough to really enjoy and remember it. Drawback number one came when I was put into a walking cast a few weeks before we left. Although it'd be a lot of walking and my foot wasn't in the best shape right now, this was still doable. I wasn't going to let this one little setback ruin any of my fun. I was still really mobile and I would rock that weird one leg knee tan that I got from the cast.

Drawback number two happened two days before take off. (Bad airplane joke, sorry). I got a really bad sore throat and went to the doctors in hopes to get some medication before I left. The doctor said there was nothing they could give me for it and that it should clear up soon. We left for Florida the next day and by the end of the day I was a lot sicker than I had been. I had a high fever and I was freezing inside the 85 degree house and couldn't get enough blankets on me. We had to change plans around for the next day to do something a little less strenuous. I put on a brave face and decided I was still going to have a great time on this vacation and not let anything get me down.

We had an okay day and I went to bed still really sick.The next day I woke up without a voice. I have never ever before in my life lost my voice but on my second ever vacation it decides to completely leave me. We go to Busch Gardens this day and communicating with my family is hard. I tried to whisper in their ears but I didn't even have enough of a voice for that, and the parks were really loud anyways. Because of my boot cast thing on my foot, I walked a little bit slower than the rest of my family. This would have been okay if I could just call to them to wait up for me, but I didn't have a voice to do this. So our day consisted of me getting left behind and then my family realizing and doubling back for me. Having no voice, being incredibly sick, and having an injured foot could have completely ruined my vacation for me but I chose not to let it.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that life isn't always going to go how you planned it. There will be times when things go astray and you feel like the world is against you. Keeping an open mind and not letting these things change your outlook on life is key. Life is what you make it so choose to make it great.