About the Mouse - Or Not

What a week - well, four days, which alternately felt like ten and then one.  Mickey was quite the host to Merry, Ava, Bryce and me - and roughly a million of our closest friends.  And by "closest" I mean we swapped sweat in the sweltering Florida heat and humidity.  At one point, we even went into the Enchanted Tiki Bird Hut just for the air conditioning.  If you have had the experience of being serenaded by tiki birds, you will realize just how hot it was...

Merry and I got to watch the wonder of fresh excitement starting with taking off from O'Hare.  Bryce and Ava (in first class, none the less) marveled over the Chicago skyline as we flew overhead. Even a fellow passenger commented on how much more fun the two of them made flying - seeing wonder again in what had become ordinary.


Once we arrived at Disney, there was Splash Mountain (twice), The Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride (in line twice, turned away the first time - the evil queen's fault, I'm sure), The Haunted Mansion (the graveyard made the wait bearable), Soarin' (twice and my personal favorite), Peter Pan (could have done without the 70 minute 'build up' to the 5 minute ride), Space Mountain (twice with increasing bravado), Tomorrowland Speedway (once for the four of us, another time for the mini drivers among us.  They drove both times, the tall ones among us got smarter the second time around.), rockets and teacups, princesses and swimming pools.  If that seemed like an endless run-on sentence, imagine what our feet felt like at the end of each day.  Coincidentally, the end of each day was also the start of the next - we never got to bed before midnight.

But before we could even consider bedding down,there was the electric parade and light show and fireworks - and a slow walk down Main Street with the aforementioned million before returning to our room for a round of much needed showers.  The final night, Merry sacrificed two hours of sitting on a curb to save the perfect viewing area for the evening's spectacular.  I was charged with taking munchkins to It's a Small World.  Who got the better end of that deal?

Friday evening as Bryce and I sat in the Orlando airport munching on such fine dining as can be found there, he asked me a question that I was actually preparing to ask him - "What was your favorite part of the week, Granma?"  Without a moment's hesitation, I said it was spending the time with three people I love so much.  His answer was just as quick - talking and giggling in bed after the lights went out.


Be still, my heart.  After all the hype and all the walking and all the line standing and all the photo ops, it wasn't about the mouse at all.  I would do it all again just for that shared revelation.  You're a good mouse, Mickey, as rodents go.  But you pale in comparison to spending precious time with precious people.  With much love to my traveling companions, it certainly is a Wonderful World!