Disney World Dreaming

In honor of our upcoming trip to Disney World next week I thought I'd try to put into words why, at 31 years of age and no kids of my own, I am still such a Disney fan. I have been asked this at times by my peers who have long since outgrown Mickey Mouse and fairy tales and magic and I had no good answer in response. It's a fun place? I have great memories there? You never outgrow a good story? All of these are true but they're not the entire truth. So here we go...

I had completely wonderful, practically-perfect parents who made some normal mistakes (like any human is prone to do) but one they never made was to undervalue family memories and time together. So from a very yearly age they invested in family vacations. Disney World was one of those. I have vivid memories of pushing my brother in a stroller down Main Street - so I couldn't have been much more than 5 or 6 years old myself when we first started going. And it became a truly special place for us. The wonder of Cinderella's castle, the magic of your first ride on "It's a Small World," experiencing your first roller-coaster on Space Mountain after finally being tall enough, and the nightly splendor of a firework show that will spoil you for life were just some of the many memories we made together. We have album after album of photos recalling rides, dinners, water parks, character breakfasts, meet and greets, and so many tired/happy smiles - year after year after year. You can see us grow up if you were to look through the photos. A little older, a little less silly - growing up but not growing apart. This is key. Something about the shared memories, the shared magic kept us connected even through the rocky teenage years when siblings typically want nothing to do with each other. We LOVED being there together - Mom and Dad would turn the three of us kids loose and we'd explore all the parks together with our friends. We were a family but we were also friends - and believe me that's a choice you get to make. And I highly recommend it.

Because life gets messy. It gets sad and busy and tricky and yes, bad things happen to the heroes in every story. My parents fell on hard times financially and Disney World quickly went from being an every year trip to somehow, before we knew it, an entire decade would pass before we would return. Bryan, the bouncy-blonde kid in the stroller would get hurt in war and I would find myself pushing him in a wheelchair down a hospital hall instead of Main Street. Jen would grow up the fastest of all of us and become a busy mother to 4 of her own babies in the blink of an eye and she would need so much help with those sweeties (what mom doesn't with four?). And then Mom got breast cancer and had to have major surgery and she would heal but find herself so painfully changed. And Dad - the joyful, laughter-giving young man of my childhood would fight his own demons of depression and failure and grief. While I waited and waited and waited for most of my 20's for my prince to arrive - growing increasingly less hopeful he ever would.

This is when you'll want those memories.

This is when you will be glad you chose those beautiful, broken people as friends not just family. Because you will need them. And they will need you. And you'll want memories of a happier time to give you hope and to keep you going. To remind you that dreams do come true and happily-ever-after's are the ultimate end-game in Christ's kingdom. That good wins. And life throws curveballs AND second chances. That some stories are worth telling and retelling, again and again.

I went back to Disney World with my prince for our 1st year Anniversary after a decade of being out of Disney World. It was surreal. Everywhere I looked I "saw" my family. At the Haunted Mansion, The Tower of Terror, Typhoon Lagoon, and I swear I heard Dad laughing down Splash Mountain. And here I was with my own husband who, as God would have it, had also been visiting with his family from half a world away in Brasil as a kid, who also has remarkable family memories in Disney World. So for all of our cultural differences we share this place in our hearts. And we dream of taking our own children there someday, to see their faces light up with joy and wonder.

Next week we will (most all of us) meet up in Orlando for a big family vacation - Jen and her husband and all those precious kiddos (the oldest just turned 13!) and Mom and Dad and even my grandparents are joining us! 4 generations reuniting in one family trip! I can hardly believe it - how far we've come since those wide-eyed, innocent days as kids. We've come back around: full circle.

Even Walt Disney couldn't have imagined a story as grand and magical and powerful and beautiful as God's great redeeming love for us. His faithful goodness and mercy that follows after us all the days of our lives. Until we are home, happily-ever-after.