My daughter rocked during the trip! Every morning we arose at some crazy hour and she danced from the time she arose until damned near the time she passed out for the evening. When the conference and competition was over, she had two shiny, new first place trophies to display on the trophy shelf that I've only been in the process of hanging for six months. :-o
Anyhow, we were able to escape to Disney World after it was all over and we had a free day to ourselves. So there we were dodging in and out of lines between the unrelenting rain. We laughed and walked and rode It's a Small World when we tired of wearing our sweltering plastic ponchos. But as night fell, we prepped for the electric parade.
As the lights on the pretend streets dimmed and people gathered behind ropes to get a closer view, we sat on an otherwise unoccupied porch to watch. I was teleported to our trip to Disneyland in 2008. That was when things were normal and my mom wasn't present only in my head. Back when my daughter smiled as she peed into a Pull-Up so that she didn't have to get out of the line for riding Dumbo. Back then, we stood in the mock up of New Orleans French Quarter that had been popped down into California for our pleasure. We drank mint juleps and marveled as fireworks lit up the night sky at Disney.
But in 2012, it was different. As the parade passed us by, I felt like the loneliness was only amplified by those around me. I felt like Disney World was the loneliest place on earth without my mom there to laugh. I sat there on the wood planked porch and allowed the tears to flow as I felt an indescribable isolation in the presence of hundreds of people gathered in my immediate area. As the lights came up, we headed into a shop to purchase our trinkets and when my daughter turned to me and asked if I was ready to go, I could not have more positively said yes.
As the lights on the pretend streets dimmed and people gathered behind ropes to get a closer view, we sat on an otherwise unoccupied porch to watch. I was teleported to our trip to Disneyland in 2008. That was when things were normal and my mom wasn't present only in my head. Back when my daughter smiled as she peed into a Pull-Up so that she didn't have to get out of the line for riding Dumbo. Back then, we stood in the mock up of New Orleans French Quarter that had been popped down into California for our pleasure. We drank mint juleps and marveled as fireworks lit up the night sky at Disney.
But in 2012, it was different. As the parade passed us by, I felt like the loneliness was only amplified by those around me. I felt like Disney World was the loneliest place on earth without my mom there to laugh. I sat there on the wood planked porch and allowed the tears to flow as I felt an indescribable isolation in the presence of hundreds of people gathered in my immediate area. As the lights came up, we headed into a shop to purchase our trinkets and when my daughter turned to me and asked if I was ready to go, I could not have more positively said yes.
