friday letters {the disney version}

 

Dear Disney World,
I love everything about you... and I miss you. Desperately. 

Dear Mickey Mouse,
Are you the one who makes all of the magic?  There was more than we could have imagined... beginning with the upgrade to Animal Kingdom Lodge!  And being chosen to test out the new Magic+ bands?  We were honored to be a help to you!  Wearing them made us feel like rock stars.  We hope that our feedback was a help to you... and if you ever want us to test anything again we are ready!!!

Dear Scoop,
Your pin trading lanyards were amazing... and you made Laura's day!  A Marie pin and a Duchess pin?!  Perfection.

Dear Main Street,
Thank you for all of the fun!  We took time to ride the trolley with the Dapper Dans and stopped to clap along with the Marching Band!  When I rush to get it all done I miss out on these extras that make Disney World so extra-special!  I was thankful that I could get myself to slow down and enjoy, instead of rushing on to the next thing!

Dear Animal Kingdom Lodge,
I am still processing all of my feelings about being there... I asked Eric if we could stay forever, but he said no {which he hardly ever says!} but I hope that someday we'll be back!  Someday...

celebrating 50...

We dined in Gemany, soared over California, gazed out over the Savanna, and shouted Aloha! all in the name of love.  Fifty years of love, to be exact.  It seemed there was no more magical place to celebrate my in-law's fiftieth wedding anniversary than Disney World... 

Ten of us around the table... all thankful to be a part of their fifty years together.

processing the magic...

We are in the midst of a vacation marathon... just home from Disney World. 
Laura is back at school, and Camden is at Boy Scout camp... and on Monday we'll head for San Antonio with Camden and three other youth from our church.  It is a lot of fun being packed into three weeks, with none of the timing being our own.  My sweet friend Christine told me she wanted to hear all about the trip... more than me just wanting to live at Animal Kingdom Lodge... and I promise you, I am trying to find the words within me.  I don't want to lose the magic that danced all around this week.   

Yes, there was magic... the abracadabra brand, the pixie dust variety, and the kind that can only be made when love surrounds you.  We created our own out of pure necessity and scouted out or happened into more that I could imagine.  It was a beautiful time.    

The necessity part?  In our scrambling to get ready for three trips, I realized that Camden would need a haircut before Texas... and it was too late to really do anything about it before we left.  And then I remembered that Disney World has a Barber Shop...

He skipped the pixie dust... but for a Mom on a mission to check off haircut on the to-do list, making the haircut part of the fun was magic.  Truly.

stepping over the line {part 2}

Way back here I promised that there would be more...

and then yesterday, I double promised...

When I asked the question about the balloons flying, the answer was maybe.  They were waiting for the fog to lift.  Balloons were inflated but still on the ground to conserve fuel just in case.  And then, just in case happened, the balloons were upright and the sky filled.  I could hardly breathe.  It was a dream come true... to see colors in the sky.

As the balloons were setting sail, Miss Daisy was coming down... and we were opening the petals we had sealed in the dark. 

I was torn... between wanting to help and wanting to see the sky in full color.  In my mind I was stretched out on a blanket gazing at the sky... but sometimes what you plan isn't as perfect as what actually happens.  With my camera around my neck we hustled around Miss Daisy and then, taking off our shoes, we shuffled along the silk helping the air find its way out...  The silk billowed up and around us and along with the air, joy and laughter bubbled forth.

I shuffled, looked up to the sky, and snapped shot after shot over the clouds of silk... all the while, laughing and knowing that there was no better view.    Perhaps all my life I have been a stand-on-the-sidelines kind of girl... but God has changed me for the better.  He has taught me that the gap between enjoying the view and dancing with abandon isn't as wide as I believed it to be... and that to accept that hand that is reaching to pull you across is a grace all in itself. 

My dream to sail over the treetops in a hot air balloon remains a dream... even though we flew high in a tethered balloon.  I loved being in that balloon, seeing the world from on high, but something in me has changed... and the seeing doesn't fill me like the doing. 

Hot, sticky and weary, it felt like afternoon as we walked out across the field, homeward bound...  and we were all amazed that morning would be around for another hour or so.  But the weary was a good weary and the sticky didn't stop my Mom from leaning in and whispering just how amazed she was at me stepping over the line of caution tape.  I smiled... and confessed a little fear, that there was a split second of hesitation.  But OH! there was a joy worth living on the other side and I wouldn't have changed one moment.  Not one.
 
did you miss part one?
and find some more photos here and yesterday's post...