Disney and Eating My Words

At church one Sunday, I told J my life goal was to never go to Disney. He takes his family every year and loves it but it seemed like the worst thing ever to me -- scripted adventure, long lines, a cookie-cutter experience. Within two weeks I would have to eat my words. I booked a trip to Disney.

I went on a whim with my friend B, her two kids, and her mom. I had some airline tickets to comp and she had an extra pass for the park. So, why not? I needed to get away from a glouring November sky and to clear my head of a difficult fall.

So I did, and it was like I thought -- endless lines and pre-packaged fun -- but the kids liked it and having fun with them made it fun. The rides were okay too. And it did clear my head. Nights were full of wine and food, swimming in the pool, and good conversations -- a reset to demarcate a new season of life.

And we managed to find unscripted fun too. Our last night there, B and I went back to the park alone. There was a supermoon that night and we wanted a picture of it over the shoulder of the princess castle. We scouted the park, tracking the progress of the moon as it climbed behind the curve of the earth and the treeline and caught it just at the moment it peaked its pocked face of the spindly parapets of the castle. A picture can't capture the magnificence of a reality or feeling but being there in that balmy night, it felt magical and not in the pre-packaged Disney way. A year ago tonight.