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Adventures Everyday

You win some. You lose some. Today, I lost.

Do you see the picture above? It’s my OFFICIAL invite to the White House. Yes, I actually did get invited to the 134th Annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

Today was a very hard day for me. Yup. Among other things going so wonderful in my life, today, my balls dropped mid air, and I was the only one to blame.

I was so excited to have actually been invited to the White House for a #WHTweetUp. If you are not on Twitter, then you probaly don’t know that the White House actually invited people that “tweet” to the White House for events. I put my name in a hat and got the OFFICIAL invite a few days later.

I told EVERYBODY! Yup! The whole wide world knows that I was supposed to go to the White House. I like to do big things. Go big or GO HOME. Why not? If you aren’t going to dream big and try to get somewhere, then why work so hard for something you really want? I REALLY wanted this. The opportunity to go the the White House, MAYBE meet the President, take the kids around DC, do something most people don’t get the opportunity to do. Yup. That’s me. I take pride in my accomplishments. Always have. I’ve been tweeting, reading and following all the AMAZING people that would be at the event. It sounded SO amazing. A opportunity of a lifetime. Who does this? Me, I guess! My lucky day.

And for those who know about a project I launched a few years back, THIS was MY chance to be a part of an event that was exactly something I had been working on since Michele Obama launched Let’s Move in 2010. Fit Kids Playground would ACTUALLY be GOING to the White House! I could show everybody what we were doing in Tampa and how we were trying to make a difference.

To say, that I was excited was an understatement. I was going to actually be able to GO to the White House, take the kids and participate in a 130 year old tradition, the Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. Wow. Yup. Pretty cool. So despite the fact that tickets cost a body part, and it was going to be a tight budget, with the help of my parents, we made it happen, or at least I thought I pulled it off until Friday…then again on Sunday morning at 5:30AM at the airport, with all kids in tow.

For those who know me well, yes, I AM busy. But organized. Yes, I feel like I have logistics in order for managing 3 kids, business obligations and more, but today, my “super powers” were gone today and I couldn’t pull out of a mistake that was made a few days ago. It really sucks. I don’t like not being able to fix things.

Because of logistical error that WAS (and I hate pointing fingers) my banks fault (admittedly). I thought that things were straightened out on Friday and we were set to fly out on Sunday…the 8th, not the 15th, as the new tickets stated. We were booked for an incorrect date…that I didn’t catch until it was too late. This is where it comes back to me. My fault that I didn’t check the date of the re-booked tickets. So getting to the airport at 5:30 THIS morning meant nothing as our tickets were for another day. I hate being wrong. I hate not being able to fix things. I hate this feeling. I don’t like letting people down, and I am the one who probaly let myself down the most today.

My kids…could honestly care less. They don’t judge. They don’t hold a grudge. They weren’t mad at me because I F*ed up. They are 6 and 7 and love me no matter what. As I am writing this, it makes me remember that life is full of lessons. Life goes on. The sun is still shining, and they still love their Mom, no matter what…even if I did mess up an opportunity of a lifetime. But maybe it wasn’t meant to be…maybe there is a reason…right…I hope so…Maybe I am the one to take the lesson home from this experience. Mistakes happen. Life goes on. Sometimes, it really sucks.

I tried. I tried so hard, but with out another $2000 to rebook AGAIN, I just couldn’t fix this HUGE mistake. I sat in the airport with 2 VERY patient kids while I waited to figure out what to do.

So here I am now, 3 hours later…at home…on Easter…with my family. (That doesn’t sound bad either, right.) I’ve spent the morning thinking about the events that just happened and how I would tell all my supportive friends and family about my f* up. I thought about lying and saying I got sick and going into hiding. Silly,right. Nope, just didn’t want to admit that it was my fault. Couldn’t do that either. Why should anyone else care what happened? But I do.

I love the support I receive from my friends and family. Yes, I know I am crazy with being pregnant and involved as I am with my projects, clients, family, and everything else under the sun. It your support means so much, you’ll never know. I think anyone supporting anyone else or a cause means so much. Thank you for the well wishes. I am so lucky to have friends and family that care as much as I do. I wish I had cool pictures and stories to talk about. It should have been REALLY fun. I guess I will watch it live tomorrow…from my couch.

Maybe I will get the opportunity to do this again at another event. Who knows. Yes, I VERY disappointed in the turn of events, but I still cannot change me getting to DC, short of a miracle. The Easter Egg Roll is tomorrow and there is no way we can afford to fix this. So I guess our airline credit will have to sit in the “bank” until later and maybe we can win the #WHTweetUp lottery again. My lesson learned.

So as I listen to the kids laughing and not even thinking about what I messed up today, I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. But I am. Just me. It’s not like I threw away a winning lottery ticket…well, kind of…I guess I should just go back to being Clark Kent for a while. I am getting ready to have a baby…another kind of lottery we have won 4 times.

So here’s our version of the White House #EasterEggRoll Not as fancy, but just fine for my kids.

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Meet Tampa Mama, Marisa Langford


Marisa Langford is the founder of the Tampa Mama Blog, a blog that guide parents around the city (and beyond) to the best places for kids and families. She is a working Mom of four, carefully juggling a full time career in experiential marketing, leading Girl Scouts and all the chaos that goes along with a family of 6.

Marisa is a speaker, influencer, and passionate about all things mom. She partners with brands that share her passion for healthy living, on the go fun and family togetherness.

In her personal blog, Marisa writes about motherhood, family travel, how to manage a household of 6, and of course all the fun places to go as living in Florida is like living on a permanent vacation. She has a daughter who is a Type 1 Diabetic and 3 children with rare medical conditions.

Marisa has been published by Huffington Post, Where Traveler, Parents.com, the Today Show Parenting Blog, Trekaroo, Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine, and many others. She contributes to a variety of online publications and also appears monthly on Great Day Tampa Bay on WTSP New Channel 10.

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