First, Mcgrawfan, I love your pic!! Thanks, too, for reading and remarking.
Now, on to the promised, bittersweet (for ME!) Epilogue:
THE EPILOGUE….
So now you know more about my family than I know about yours. I loved sharing our story because of the reminders I need about the people in this house. I’m not gonna try to answer the why-don’t-we-treat-each-other-that-well-everyday question here. Suffice it to say we absolutely love each other and are at our closest when we are on Walt’s 47 square miles.
Our plane landed about midnight and we hurried home. Shrek and I might have had pits in our stomachs as we had big church responsibilities the next morning. Strangely, we did not. We were looking forward to seeing the kids we teach and the adults in our church family. We reveled in the escape but were OK to return to familiarity.
I have one more sidebar from our Disney trip. It’s about our A.
He’s a good boy, if a bit young for his age. Truth be told (and
WHY NOT tell the truth??), we are glad he is young. Like so many parents, we want to freeze him at this age. We usually lean towards the What’s The Rush tendency in parenting and are grateful our oldest has made that easy for us.
He loves Disney. I’ve told you he wants to work for The Mouse someday. He even asks if we will be OK if he moves to Florida. Yeah, I’ll visit—a lot—but be sooo happy for ya baby. The little flea counted his money all week to carefully balance his souvenir load.
The day we had the meet-and-greet in The Castle, we waited a few minutes in that Royal shoppe. DS12 eyeballed and fawned all over the Goofy statue. Mr. Goofy costs $150 IN DISNEY DOLLARS. DS did not have that kind of change, but I talked him through several ways he might work it out. I told him, for instance, his grandparents had asked me to let him choose a birthday gift on the trip. He knew Goofy would be more than they had sent, but I offered it as a partial gift. We also discussed Goofy instead of the planned sleepover party (we do a gift OR a party for our kids…not both…they can choose) or an advance on his allowance. I also reminded him we MIGHT be back in Disney World one day if he wanted to save.
We talked until it was time for the meet-and-greet. When that extravaganza ended, he looked at me and said, “I don’t think I’ll get the Goofy now. I really like it, but it’s too much money.” Let’s just say his brother would NOT have said that.
That Goofy encounter happened on Friday—our first day there. By Sunday, we had watched the boy study Goofy in at least three other shops. We always had a short interface about it, but he always came to the same conclusion.
By Monday, I decided to have a heart to heart with Shrek. I had told him about the Goofy statue and A’s decision. He and I both mocked the $150 price.
Then we decided to get it for him. This was a HUGE deal for us; as a rule, we don’t buy our kids big (EXPENSIVE) stuff that takes up room. The Goofy would not be part of the pixie dust that had allowed us the trip of a lifetime.
But we did it.
We giggled at our plot. It’s not easy to sneak around your kids in Disney World. We were together 24/7, of course.
I sneaked out to the Concierge desk one afternoon and spoke to Allison (love her!!!!!!!!!!). I told her our idea. I asked her if she could get Goofy to us so we could take him home in a box…all sealed up and unmarked. I told her we’d get it on the plane. She did it.
When Shrek and I saw the box behind the Concierge desk the next day, we gulped. Hard. Goofy’s big when he’s all boxed up for travel.
The night before we checked out, Goofy called A to wish him Happy Birthday. He slid a birthday card under the door for A the next morning. We had NOTHING to do with that. Thanks, Allison. My son looks at that card every day.
I tried to distract the boys while Shrek and the driver loaded the car, then the plane. A asked about the box once and I told him it was dirty clothes! I said we had so many they wouldn’t fit in the suitcase and I wanted them separate from the clean stuff. He bought it, which is funny cause I usually pack to go home the way Prissy packed Scarlett to get out of Atlanta-- dump and slam and hope to zip.
The next day, Sunday, was A’s true 12th birthday. After church the boys invited the neighbors over for a Mickey Rice Krispy treat. We had a few sittin’ around. A never asked about a birthday present, though he had a few cards from the mail.
Late in the afternoon we were making big dinner plans to eat at our favorite bulk Mexican joint. The idea of eating in restaurants had almost lost its charm on me but this place makes a big to do over birthdays and it’s a Fixer tradition. They put the sombrero on your head, sing in Spanish, and spoon whip cream onto your nose. Good times.
Anyway, we brought out the box and I asked A to help me unload it.
Goofy. He was beyond excited, beyond surprised. Those little feet started jumping up and down and he asked how we did it. He thanked us about 100,000 times.
Goofy lives in our former living room, now dining room. Yep. He’s on the buffet. We thought that would be his temporary home, but we’ve all grown attached to him. He’s watching me type and keeps an eye on my Dis-ing.
Some of our friends and family understand our love for Disney. Everyone has their passion. I can’t wait to go with my family again, but I don’t know when that will happen.
My Disboard friends understand it all. I’m even going back to Disney World to meet them there. Two of my good friends, from families we traveled to Disney with in 2005, are going with me. The planning is wonderful, as usual. At first we felt all guilty about going without our husbands and kids. We are all about talking to them about our vacation to an ‘International Food and Wine Festival that happens to be held in Orlando And It’s a Grownup Thing.’ We had no intention of playing the way we play with our kids.
Shrek scoffed at us. Go!
Enjoy! REVEL, even!!! Ride Space Mountain without my boys? Well, OK.
I’m getting over some of the guilt and moving into the excitement. My friends and I were laughing about the fun we will have in The Happiest Place On Earth. It will be different, for sure. We know we will go back with our families. My A is jealous and freely admits it. That’s tricky.
The Vikings.
MAELSTROM, people!!! I never thought I would make friends—real watch-your-back friends—on the Internet. I have, though, and I am so grateful. We like-minded typists, wordsmiths, cooks, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, jokers, Yankees, Canadians, Southerners, Left Coasters have formed an open and ever-expanding community of inreach and outreach here. All relationships should feel this easy and natural. I laugh with you all like laughter has no end. The Ultimate Fastpass is shared community in the hilarity of life.
I have a little over a month to decide about another trip report. Until then, The Fixer is D-O-N-E.
What a fabulous trip report!!
the epilogue but I will have to wait until my trip is over!
Just 7 short hours from now. I better go take a nap. 
to shoo Ernesto out to sea with!
, Jennifer, MyGrammy 
, TwinkieMamaYum, Kimmie, Rockin'Java Mama 
, thank you so much. It is so affirming to read your kind words.
