The surgery thing is straightened out, and I�m having it done on February 10th, just one week later than it was supposed to be. As it turns out, I won�t have to re-schedule about a half a dozen things that were planned at school and elsewhere, so that�s good. Did I mention that I gave up a free trip to DisneyWorld that the high school dance team is going on, and coming back on February 3rd, when I was originally scheduled for surgery?
Ironic, then, that I could have gone, but now someone else is going. They needed an extra chaperone, and my principal (The Psycho), having a good moment, looked right at me, figuring I would jump at the chance to go, but I had to pass. Not devastating or anything, but certainly ironic.
DisneyWorld is the best place on this planet that a person could possibly be. I believe this with all my heart, even though I know that there are people who don�t like DW at all, especially Hubs. So I�ll have to say it�s the best place I could possibly be. And now, I proudly present my DW Highlights:
1960: I was 7, I got to go to Disneyland when we visited my uncle in California. I met Mickey Mouse and he patted me on the head. My mother got it in the home movies. A supreme childhood moment.
1974: My mother retired and came into a little money and offered to send me on a trip to Europe, and I said I wanted to go to DW instead. It cost twice as much to go to DW as it did to go to England, so I went to England. It was also cool, but still I yearned for More Mouse.
1986: Hubs was over-stressed at work, freaking out, didn�t buy me a single Christmas present. He gave me an envelope with a letter in it that said he would go on the vacation of my choice whenever I wanted. A very big deal, since he takes no vacations and does not travel. Yet, I was pissed off; he could have stopped at CVS and picked up a lousy box of candy or something. I said to myself, �Damn, we�re going to DisneyWorld!� And we did, my first time, January 1987. It was everything I always dreamed of, hoped it would be. It is magic, and I was in the middle of the magic. Everything feels so unreal there, like you�re living in the best dream you ever had. Hubs hated every moment, but was pleasant and polite. I vowed I would never make him go there again.
1988: I am sick in bed in March and bored and decide �I�m taking the children to DW!! Hubs won�t go, but his mother will!� Laying there sick, I called a travel agent and made the arrangements to go in November, when the schools in NJ close for two days each year, making a long weekend. The girls would be 4� and 7� when we go. It�s perfect!
And it really was, although it had its moments. We stayed in a camper-home in the DW trailer park, so we had a kitchen, were near a pool, etc. When we got to each park each day we got a stroller for little K, but by the end of the day, she was sitting on the awning and R was in the seat. There was an interesting little change in their dynamic, the two of them, that started there, but that�s not for now. The thing was, I got to be there with them, saw fireworks, got character autographs, went into Mickey�s own house. There was a show in there, something about Mickey�s surprise birthday party, and it started with the performers on stage singing �Who�s the leader of the club that�s made for you and me?� and I was singing, too, along with every other Baby Boomer in the room. R was embarrassed, even at 7, but I so loved it. I videotaped a lot of the trip. Our visit to the Haunted Mansion is family legend, as K insisted she would be fine, and then turned into Velcro, would not unwrap herself from me through the whole ride, and shrieked uncontrollably in my ear throughout.
1991: I have brain surgery the week before Christmas, and get myself through the weeks leading up to it by declaring that in April, over the school vacation, Sibs and I will go to DW, just the two of us. (She had been once already, having gone with her kids and her second husband, The Scumbag.) My parents are so glad to see that I am not falling apart, that they offer immediately to pay for our whole trip.
I cannot even describe the experience of going to DW with your absolute best friend only, no kids, no hubs, just the two of you. We stayed in a hotel then called the Dixie Landings, a gentle, quiet place without a lot of kids there. We went through those parks everyday from opening to closing; our feet hurt up through our thighs. Here�s the ultimate moment:
After we checked into our hotel, we got on a bus and headed for EPCOT, no reason. We got off the bus and were approaching the gates. We were passing this huge planted area in the center of the plaza there, surrounded by a low concrete wall. Maybe you know it. Anyway, as we walked past it we looked at each other and we connected: we were here, we were both alive, we made it, we were okay. One of the supreme moments of my entire life, and hers, too. Whenever we go back now, we always go to EPCOT first, to catch the feeling.
A fabulous trip.
Tomorrow: the most foolish, yet fun, trip to DW we could ever have taken, and did.
