The Promise of Tomorrow

I heard a quote on television tonight that struck a chord with me. It was quoted as "the most painful state of being is remembering the future" attributed to Soren Kierkegaard.  Poignant, right? After looking into it more it appears that the full quote is

Ya know, it's humorous, my sophomore year in high school my entire English class was given the task of writing a paper on an assigned Philosopher.  Mine? Soren Kierkegaard.  I don't remember much about the writings of Mr. Kierkegaard or my writing on his work but I do remember that he was an existentialist.  In short,  this meant that he believed that there was no order to this irrational world and that we, alone, were responsible for creating order and meaning to life through our own actions and this filled us with a sense of dread.  Now that I think about it... that pretty much sums up my sophomore year.

Back to the quote above.  Isn't it so very true?  Isn't it merely describing hope? Isn't hope what buoys and sustains us?  The religious among us may call it faith but I believe that they are describing the same concept.   When we first moved to the small town where we live we inhabited an approximately 900 square foot house.  And when I say we I mean my husband, myself, and our three children.  To say we were cramped would be an understatement.  But I had made plans to expand the house both on paper and quite vibrantly in my imagination.  I could see the family room with all of its space for gathering, the kids bedrooms upstairs, and the new expanded kitchen that more than one person could fit in at a time.  And that vision sustained me when I just couldn't take the tiny space any longer.

Had we remained in that home and never made the changes that I had so vividly imagined, we would have embodied Kierkegaard's quote.  Luckily, we were able to move into a larger home and no longer needed the fantasy of what our future held.

And as always this brings me to Damon.  I feel that this quote perfectly describes grief after a loss.  I will miss my brother forever.  I will miss his sense of humor, his intelligence, his presence in my life. But what really made me angry with the loss of him was the promise that all of those things held for the future.  He had already traveled the world twice, and had recently started his own company in order to live life on his terms.  And most importantly he had recently become a father.  I never got to see him fulfill that role.  I only saw him and his son together in pictures or video.  We never had Christmas with the kids playing together at our feet.  My kids didn't get to gripe to their Uncle Damon when Mom was being mean.  He never even got the chance to introduce me to his son.  The future that I had envisioned would never happen.

I felt that same type of loss a few years ago.  Things were revealed to me that not only changed my memory of the past but forever shifted the course of my future.  And that is such a hard pill to swallow.  We are told that we must live in the present but when it becomes unbearable we imagine a future where wrongs are righted, good wins over evil, and happiness once again reigns.  A self-preserving mechanism that prevents us from debilitating depression. And let's be honest there are a LOT of reasons to be depressed in the current society in which we live.  But each new day is an opportunity to change the tide, to adjust course, and make strides towards the future that we envision.

Go forth and make today a good one.  Smile at a stranger, give a little grace, not only to others but also to yourself, and remember that kindness is always the answer.

Karma

I’m a firm believer in karma.  When Avery was about three and going through a sassy phase she would mouth off to us and then turn around to storm out of the room and immediately smack her head on the doorknob.  What I used to call “instant karma”.  No need to wait around for repercussions, the universe was happy to deliver right away.

My latest experience with karma also involves Avery.  See she has had problems with a particular person over the last few months and on Monday I got to see a little bit of karma in action.  I can’t really go into the details but it brought a huge smile to my face for about seven hours.  At seven and a half hours I was hit with severe gallbladder pain.  Such was my karma for reveling in someone else’s misery.

  So folks, your lesson for today is...karma works.  It may not be instantaneous and it may not be on the timeline that you would prefer but eventually it all works out.  Just keep putting out good to the world so you stay on karmas good side or else be ready for the repercussions.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sayings...

It will all be ok in the end, if it’s not ok, it’s not the end.
                                     
                                           Wishing you peace until next time.

Naked on Mainstreet

I just watched Brené Brown's special on Netflix, "the Call to Courage".  I have loved Brené Brown since her first Ted Talk on vulnerability. Watching her special made me feel like I was at a Southern church revival, finding myself shouting "Amen" over and over again.  I don't know what draws me in more her sense of humor, her fact based research, or her southern drawl that makes her feel like home.

My own journey with vulnerability began about three years ago.  I've taken some licks in this lifetime but previously they only served to build up walls.  With each painful experience those walls got higher, stronger, and closer to me.  Emotional abuse, brick...wreck, brick...Damon missing, brick, grandmother's death, brick, brick, brick.  Three years ago those walls came tumbling down and since that time it feels like I have been turned inside out.  Have you ever watched a spider molt?  It literally has to shed its hard exoskeleton in order to grow.  And that is what this feels like.  Like I have shed every sense of pretense, every mirror, or mask.

 This is me, this is all of me.

And "this" me is usually on the brink of tears. Tears of gratitude because I am so incredibly blessed to love and be loved.  Tears of anger over injustices seen around the world.  Tears of happiness over a sunny day with a warm breeze.  Tears of sadness because we have ALL lost so much.

Usually I hold these tears in, but not today.  Today I let them flow.  And I am grateful for every one.  The duality of nature exists all around us.  We mourn the loss of loved ones with an intensity only matched by the love we shared.  We appreciate and revel in the happy moments because we have felt sadness and pain.  We often experience anger in relation to the passion we have for a purpose.  The highs mean nothing without the lows for comparison.  This is one of the reasons that I do not medicate my depression.  If taking away the valleys means taking away the peaks, then I'm not interested.  I want to experience the full range of human emotion.

 FULL DISCLOSURE:( because what is the point of a post on being vulnerable without actually being vulnerable?) I have tried two different anti-depressants and both made me feel like I was on drugs...jaw clenching, skin crawling, and the aforementioned flatline of emotion.  So for me they were not a good fit but I fully support anyone who makes that decision for themselves.

I am a work in progress and that's ok.  Lately, I feel that  I am making great strides in my development.  At the end of the day I can lay my head down and be at peace with who I am.  My rough edges have softened, my temper has been tampered, and my capacity for forgiveness expanded.  I can't wait to see what future me looks like.

If I can't see it, it's not happening.

I had my first day of regional trainings for the year today which I absolutely love attending.  I choose to attend regionals in Katy each year as it is closest to home and I usually get to see friends that I've met along this journey.  I'm sure the staff gets sick of all of my questions but I love to learn and being well versed makes me more confidant in my job.  Maybe law school will be a possibility some day, I'm not ruling it out entirely just yet.

But this post wasn't supposed to be about my passion, this post is about what happened this evening.  After classes Joe and I headed to dinner and whenever we travel for my work we try to hit a particular pizza place that is located in nearly every city to which I travel. Tonight we got there just before the evening rush.  We ordered and then proceeded to have a seat and indulge in one of my favorite past times...people watching.  There was a mother and son directly behind us in line, followed by an older couple, a couple of college girls and then several families.  This is where our story takes a turn.  One particular family had what I assume was a husband and wife and then an additional adult female and they had three small children.  While their parents wound through the line, these kids ran amuck throughout the place.  They played tag, they hung off of the fixtures, at one point one of them nearly knocked over a little old lady who must have been close to eighty years old. With three adults and three children they should have been playing a man to man defense but they were clearly taking a zone approach or playing an intense game of "NOT IT!".  There was an additional group made up of three women and five kids.  At one point one their little darlings was LITERALLY climbing the wall.  This establishment has a wall much like the one seen below except that the gaps between the boards are larger, making it possible for unsupervised children to use them as steps.  Which one of them did, climbing nearly to the ceiling before coming down again.

I get it parents you're tired, you're overwhelmed, you've had a long, tough day.  And the kids need to unwind and burn off some steam after a full day at school where they were made to sit in a chair all day and be quiet.  I get it, I promise I do.  But here's the deal... take them to an establishment where this type of behavior is encouraged.  If you need suggestions, here are a few... McDonald's, Chuck E Cheese, one of those trampoline parks, heck try Chick Fil A, the kids can unwind and the staff will probably say a prayer for you.  What I am saying is PLEASE for the love of Pete don't ruin one of my favorite places, have some consideration for your fellow man, and teach your children some manners.


To explain the title of this entry...as a kid I used to play hide and seek with my neighbors.  And one of them had a younger brother that would stand in the middle of the yard and cover his eyes when it was his turn to hide because he thought that if he couldn't see us, that we couldn't see him.  This seemed to be the parenting style that I witnessed tonight.  I have been guilty of this type of parenting in the past, hopefully we can all do better going forward.

Indecision

I asked the Hubby for a topic to write about on the blog and after much back and forth, we settled on "Indecision".  It seemed fitting since we couldn't decide on a topic.

The past few years I have taken on the role of "Chief Decision Maker".  Did you know that there are about 4,000 decisions to be made Every. Single. Day?!  Ask me how I know.  I used to agonize about every decision...is it the right one? the wrong one? should I research more?  When Damon went missing I learned not to sweat the small stuff.  And recently when my world was turned upside down again I learned that most stuff is small stuff.  When I was a kid and my Dad would make a  decision about a course of action he used to say "right, wrong, or indifferent".  Meaning whatever the outcome, he had made a decision and that was the course that we would follow.  Which brings me to the following meme.

And this was so me for a long time, paralyzed by indecision, stuck in the "what if's".  Miraculously, my ability to make a decision came from a place of absolute despair.  It didn't matter what we ate for dinner, because I didn't feel like eating anyway.  it didn't matter where we went or what we did, because I just wanted to climb back into bed.  But eventually with time and a whole lot of therapy, I got better and the decisions remained easier.  Because at the end of the day, if the decision that I am making right now is not going to affect my life in five years time than it is not life altering, and it doesn't really matter what route I choose to take.

I encourage you to make whatever decision you've been avoiding. You'll be surprised by the weight that is lifted.  Go forth and conquer!  Or go forth and queso if the decision that needs to be made is what to eat.

Savor the Little Things

My absolute favorite part of the day, every single day, is sitting in bed with my husband at night.  He on his phone or reading a book and I on my phone or watching Netflix.  And here comes my favorite part...he will reach over and place a hand on my back or my arm and gently stroke it.  Nope that doesn't sound right, I even used a thesaurus to try and find the right word.  Not rub, not massage, not stroke.  Well anyway, he will reach over and place a hand on my back.  And even though we are each doing our own thing, in our own little world, it's like we're connected.  The rest of the world just drops away.  Everything bad that happened that day is forgotten and everything good that happened is multiplied.  And I feel so loved in that moment, it always brings a smile to my face.

But then fast forward approximately 8 hours...when I roll over to get up in the morning and he reaches over to do the same thing.  And I could rip his arm off and beat him to death with it.  It is amazing to me what a lack of sleep will do to a person.  I've never been a great sleeper.  When I was younger I didn't need a lot of sleep but now I have a hard time falling asleep and once I do fall asleep I can't stay asleep.  Oh, and did I mention that I'm not a morning person?  The only time I am a morning person is when I'm on vacation.  Every other morning just leave me be.  When I used to waitress I had a rule for the other waiters not to talk to me until noon.  If they tried, I would just point to my wrist where a figurative watch resided.

All of this to say that I adore my husband but God help him in the morning.

Decisions, decisions...

So I thought that I should write something every day to keep the practice up, but then I thought that I shouldn't write unless I have something actually meaningful to say.  Not profoundly earth shattering meaningful but that I should write with a purpose.  But today nothing is coming to me, no funny stories, no life changing diatribes, no commentary on the human existence.  So how about this?  I'll try to make a list of topics to discuss and you all are free to suggest topics as well.  Want to know my thoughts on global warming?  Want to hear about my favorite trip?  Want to know the name of my first pet?  Drop me a note and I will try to hit them all.  Otherwise I'll probably only update the blog when the mood strikes me, which if history has taught us anything could be awhile.

P.S.  Be warned though, much to my Dad's amusement I am becoming more like him everyday.  Which means don't ask my opinion on something unless you really want to hear it.  My filter is often broken and my give a damn is busted.

I'm Back

I'M BAAACCK!!!

Ok, so here's the deal.  I stopped blogging back in 2013 and since then a lot of life has happened, sold a business, started another one, changed jobs, was blessed with a grand baby, experienced heart break that caused me literal pain, over came and soldiered on.  Many times over the past few years I have considered starting this blog back up but with my current job I was concerned about any repercussions for voicing my opinion on any manner of thing.  And then it hit me that the President of the United States has social media, and there doesn't seem to be any repercussions for his use of it or him expressing his opinion so let's give it a shot, shall we?

So today Joe and I went to Barnes and Noble so that he could use a gift card that he received for Christmas.  Is there anything better than a bookstore? If when I die, I wind up in a bookstore, I will know that I have arrived in heaven.  I had a joke here about how I would know that I had taken a wrong turn but it seems that I am still censoring myself just in case, but trust me it was funny.  Before we left I asked our son if he wanted to come with us, he considered it for a moment but once I mentioned that we were going to the bookstore it was a hard pass.  We tend to spend a considerable amount of time at bookstores, because for us it isn't a shopping experience it is more like a walking meditation.  There aren't many sections at the bookstore that don't pique my interest.  As I search the hobby section I wonder what new thing I can learn today, as I search the philosophy and self-help section I wonder about the person I can become, and if I just don't want to be me for awhile I can always escape into any manner of fiction book and become someone else for awhile.  So many books, so many ideas, but such limited funds.  Shoot!  Today I liberated two books for myself...a Get Your Sh*t Together Journal and You Do You, both by Sarah Knight.  I'll try to follow up once I've read them, but I expect between our current therapy regimen and these books I will definitely be ready to take over the world in a matter of weeks, so you have that to look forward to.

After touching every book in Barnes and Noble, twice, we headed for sustenance.  Mmmmm, Freebirds.  Then we made a quick pitstop at Michael's ( the craft store) so that I could pick up a small embroidery hoop for a new hobby that I'm attempting because apparently one million unfinished craft projects isn't enough.  Ahem, any way, I had to walk down every aisle even though I just went after one item because it's the rule.  I don't make the rules, I just follow them.  And as I start to head down the next aisle I encounter Influenza Iris.  This lady, and I use that term loosely because she is NO lady, is coughing her damn head off.  Which, fine, it happens but this lady is coughing full force just open mouth onto everything.  She didn't even attempt to cover her mouth, no turning her head into her shoulder, nothing!  So Iris got to keep everything on that aisle to herself because no ma'am, I don't need no flu with my arts and crafts.  I actually made it out only spending $2.05 so maybe I have Iris to thank for that. Thank you Iris!

Made it home before dark which our son had jokes about but here we are.  I spit this out onto the page with very little editing and even less forethought so hopefully this will be more coherent in the future or maybe I'll just stop doing it all together again, only time will tell.  My love to you all!

A Light in the Darkness

      After Damon went missing I was sad and angry for a long time.  And then one day I came across a blog that made me laugh.  And I felt so guilty.  But underneath that guilt I felt a tickle of happiness in the pit of my stomach.  And I craved that, that lightness, that joy.  So I devoured that blog, reading through the archives until eventually I had to wait for the author to write another.  That stranger gave me back so much that I didn't even know was missing.  And I will forever be thankful to her.  

      Once again I find myself in a dark place.  A dear friend has suffered a tragedy and I feel helpless.  I'm having a hard time processing it.  I learned a long time ago not to ask "Why?" because many times there just isn't a logical answer to that question. And while I honestly believe that everything happens for a reason, there have been a handful of times that have made me question that belief.  And I have yet to come up with the answer to those situations.

      So for now I will try doing what that stranger from so long ago did for me, I will try to spread laughter and light.  I will keep surrounding those around with me with love and hope that it is enough.

Disney- Part 3

Since we had success with going to the park in the evening the day before, we decided to hang out at the condo this morning and go to the park later in the day.  The place we stayed at was a timeshare but you didn't have to be a member to stay there and you didn't even have to sit through a sale pitch.   Mom saw an advertisement for it in a magazine and it turns out the daughter of a friend of hers had stayed there and recommended it so we decided to give it a try.  It was great!  We rented a 3 bedroom condo which was made up of their 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom units with a connecting door.  So we ended up with two full kitchens,  two sets of washers and dryers, three full baths, and enough room to sleep twelve.  The condos also had a waterpark, two swimming pools, mini golf, paddle boats and daily activities, all of which were included in your stay.  We took advantage of the waterpark this morning.

This day we went to Hollywood Studios about 4:00, just in time for the rain.  Yay.  Once again I had a list of things to see and do but unfortunately I didn't have the times listed for the different shows.  Learned the hard way that although the park doesn't close until 9:00, a lot of the shows have their last show at 5:30.  And some of the shows won't go on in the rain for obvious reasons.  So we ended up missing quite a bit at this park.  We did get to see the Grauman's Chinese Theater, where we rode the Great Movie Ride.  While it was nice to see the different movies, the acting of the tour guide was so over the top I thought Swag was going to bail out of the ride just to get away from her.

Such happy children...

Mary Poppins

Wizard of Oz

We also had to check out the Star Wars simulator.  Now remember that notebook of mine with the all the info of who would like to do what rides?  Yeah, I don't like simulators and didn't snap to the fact that this was not one of my rides to ride until I was strapped in the seat.  So what do you do?  Close your eyes, breath deep and get your barf bag ready.  Luckily I didn't end up using it. Whew.

                                

By far the coolest thing we did at this park was the Backlot Tour.  We just happened to be walking past when they were yelling last call for their last show of the day.  Consisting of two parts, the first part was a water special effects show and the second was a tram ride through the backstage of Disney.  Besides seeing iconic pieces of film history we also got to see the warehouses where both the sets and the costumes are created.   I think it would be awesome to work backstage at Disney, to be a part of making the magic happen.  I both enjoy and appreciate all the work that happens behind the scenes.

Another highlight of the tour was a special effects demonstration for an action movie.  In the scene a tanker is deserted in a desert canyon, when it bursts into flames and then a dam breaks and water comes pouring down the canyon.  Avery and I just happened to be sitting right in front of where that 10,000 gallons of water was headed and the look on her face was priceless!  

Luckily the water went safely below us and then we were taken around back where they showed us how it was done.  I believe they said the entire scene could be reset in 3 minutes, with all of that water being pumped back up to the top.

We split up for dinner with Mom, Granny, Mister Man, and my nephew going to a 50's diner.  And Joe, Swag, Little Miss and myself going to Pizza Planet from Toy Story.

After dinner we left Hollywood Studios and headed back to The Magic Kingdom.  We arrived just in time to catch part of the fireworks show from outside the gate.  

Granny didn't get to see the Castle lightshow the night before so we parked her in front of the castle and headed off to do a couple of things that we missed the day before.  In Tomorrowland we rode the People Mover and then on the other side of the park we rode The Haunted Mansion.  On our way out we once again caught part of the Mainstreet Electric Parade with Little Miss lamenting the absence of Cinderella again.

Disney- Part 2

Monday Morning-
  
I did a LOT of research before our trip and I had a notebook filled with helpful information what to bring, what to see, what to do.  I even went through every single ride and attraction on the Disney website and wrote down who I thought would be interested in what attractions.  One of my notes said that you would get more accomplished the first two hours that the park was open than you would during the next four after that.  Which meant that we should have been there at 9:00 am.  Unfortunately, we didn't get there until about 10:00 am.  Let me say that I am NOT a morning person.  However, I AM on vacation.  I believe that you should squeeze every last drop out of vacations, which means getting up early and staying out late.  And I was positively giddy over going to Disney.

It's hard to describe the feeling of driving up to Disney World.  I guess it's kind of like Christmas morning when you were a kid, when you still believed in Santa and life was great.

So we get to the parking lot and take the tram to the entrance, then we take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. For those unfamiliar, this process takes about 30 minutes if you're lucky.  We made our way through bag check and now we're in line to get in.  Here's where I have to add a little back story.  As I said before, I researched everything about Disney.  One of the things I came across in my research was a discount website for tickets.  Now I know that a lot of them are scams and people are ripped off every year by trying to save a little money but I had researched this particular site and felt it to be on the up and up.  So on my recommendation, this is where we bought our tickets.  And while we were standing in line with our tickets to get in...I was TERRIFIED!! I was so worried that our tickets wouldn't work and then we would be stranded with no way in and all that money gone, just because I tried to save a few bucks. But alas, they worked just fine.  WHEW.

                  

It certainly lived up to every expectation I had going in.  It was really kind of overwhelming.  So much to take in, but no time to stop and really absorb it all.  Our first stop was the steps of City Hall where some of us picked up our "First Time at Disney" buttons.  From there we went to the train station and rode the train over to Frontierland.  Jumped off the train and straight into line for Splash Mountain.  And here is where I first started to take notice of the little things.  While waiting in line there were several places where fans were built into the scenery, not really noticeable if you weren't paying attention, just a cool breeze coming from a barrel or out of a crate.  There was a really cool tree that had lanterns hanging from rope in the branches that would light up at night and the electric cords for them were inside the rope, little details.  Walt Disney was a genius.  Something that I noticed several times while waiting in lines was that he always kept the goal within sight but never let you see how far you were from the goal.  The lines would wind this way and that, up and down, around and over before you ever reached your destination.  But along the way he would keep you entertained with upbeat music, funny signs or just highly detailed surroundings.  He clearly was well versed in crowd control.

So we finally made it to the ride and thankfully it sat eight so we were all able to ride together.  Little Miss sat by me, in fact, Little Miss sat by me on every single ride, every day, at every park.  When we ate she sat by me, when we rested she sat by me.  I don't know what got in to her on this trip but I won't complain, someday she won't be able to get far enough away from me, so I'll take her affection now.

After Splash Mountain we ventured over to Tom Sawyer Island.  There isn't really anything to do on the island except explore, so next time I would skip it.  However if you have small children I would hit it later in the day when you're tired and the kids are still going strong.  You can sit next to the boat dock while they run and play.  From here we made our way towards Haunted Mansion.  We stopped for Little Miss to buy a souvenir, this adorable hat.

And I encountered a rarity at Disney, a snarky cast member. Who knew?  At this point we lost Granny, she decided to stay behind and have a seat while we went on ahead.  After seeing the line for Haunted Mansion, Swag decided to go jump on the river boat so off he went.   Just as the rest of us got into line for The Haunted Mansion it experienced technical difficulties and shut down.  From here confusion set in, Mom and my nephew decided to go jump on the riverboat too since it hadn't pulled out yet and apparently Joe did as well unfortunately he was carrying my backpack at the time.  So Mister Man, Little Miss and I made our way over to Cinderella's Castle where we caught part of the  parade.  Unfortunately there was no sign of Cinderella, which upset Little Miss.  By this time it is after noon and the sun is beating down relentlessly.  Another one of my eccentricities is that my internal thermostat seems to be broken.  I can go from fine to heat stroke in the blink of an eye, or so it seems.  It's as if my body doesn't know how to regulate temperature.  So remember when I said that Joe had the backpack, that meant he also had all the water I brought plus all of the money.   All three of us were wilting.  So I decided that we needed to get indoors and made our way over to It's a Small World.  I had wanted to ride this ride anyway because the one vague recollection I had of my last trip to Disney I think was of this ride.  And oddly enough the memory I had was of being really hot and then getting into a cart and going inside a building where it was cool, and there were animatronics.   Weird how history repeats itself huh?

By the time we got on the ride, everyone else was off the boat so they gathered up Granny and met us at the exit when we got off.  By this time, appr. 2:00 pm,  my nephew had had enough so Mom debated taking him back to the resort for a couple of hours and rejoining us later.  By this point I had had enough as well, so I suggested that we all leave, cool off, get some lunch and come back later.  So we did.

Granny decided not to join us on the return trip that night.  The rest of us went back to the park about 6 that evening.  We went straight to Adventureland and were able to jump on The Pirates of Caribbean ride TWICE within 10 minutes.  This is when we decided that ThIS was the way to do Disney, forget getting up early, dodging crowds, and dealing with heat. We also did the jungle cruise with our very amusing tour guide while in this area.

From there we walked to Frontierland and jumped on the train over to Tomorrowland.  Here we headed for the Tomorrowland Speedway where we all rode race cars.  Once again I rode with Little Miss who very much wanted to drive until she got behind the wheel and we were moving, lol.  Suddenly she decided that she didn't want to drive but there wasn't much to be done at that point so I pushed the gas pedal and she steered....kind of.  Thankfully, we were on a track.

Little Miss Driving?!

TomorrowLand

Then we jumped into the line for Space Mountain, which was going to be a long wait.  Remember how I mentioned my many neuroses and eccentricities?  Well, here's one more...I get seasick on a rocking chair. Seriously.  I don't do heights, I don't like small spaces, and any type of motion makes me sick.  Psychotic, I know.  So you want to hear the prescription for all of this?  Go to Disney!  Well, that and pop Dramamine like its candy.  But seriously, after waiting in line for 2 hours you'll be amazed at the things you'll do.  We get into line and once again Mr. Disney entertains you most of the way.  Then we pass a sign that describes the ride, ya know, one of those "If you are pregnant, have been pregnant, or may ever be pregnant you should not ride this ride.  If you have a heart condition, turn back now.  This ride has sudden drops and accelerations and will make your head fall off." signs.  At which point Joe turns to me and says " you know this IS a REAL roller coaster, right?!".   To which I said " what?sorry, I can't hear you over the screams in my head!  Please stop trying to freak me out!"

At a certain point there is no turning back, they have you lined up single file like cattle.  Did I mention the claustrophobia?  Lol.   I wanted to ride this ride because well, it's SPACE MOUNTAIN!!  When you think Disney, you think Space Mountain.  And after waiting that long in line there was no way that I wasn't getting on.  Unfortunately luck of the draw, or some cruel twist of fate, put me in the FIRST car.  Sigh.  It's like Walt Disney himself was telling me to be all I could be.  And by golly, I rocked it!!

And my head didn't even fall off!

Upon exiting we made our way back to Cinderella's Castle where the show The Magic, The Memories, and You was about to start.  It was amazing.  It is a light show that is projected onto the castle and features photos that have been taken by Disney photographers throughout the park that day.  When asked what their favorite part of the day was this show was mentioned by all of us.  Now, it could be because we were able to sit in one spot and be entertained for awhile, but I really think its because it was so amazing.  When it was over I wasn't even sure if the castle was really there or if it was just a projection.

Gorgeous!

Once the show was over it was time to make our way home.  On the way out we caught part of the Mainstreet Electrical Parade.  Once again Little Miss was upset that she didn't get to see Cinderella.  I had no idea she was such a fan.

MainStreet after dark

Waiting on the Tram