"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
---Walter Elias Disney

Monday, October 17, 2016

12 Days: The "Almost Teen" Is About Grown Up

So I wrote this about sharing Walt Disney World with John as he was about to turn 13. I loved that he was as interested in the Imagineering as  I am and I was impressed with the examples of "show" he found all on his own and how much he appreciated the thought that went into them. In re-reading that, I had a tar in my eye. Not because those days are gone, but because all the hopes I had for him then are being realized.

John is in his senior year now and we are beginning to see the "lasts" coming. We got the mail about ordering cap and gown. This Friday is his last home football game night and Senior Night for the band (we get to walk him out onto the field to be recognized). The night we leave for Disney is his last marching band competition. And this will likely be the last Disney trip we make as a family all living here in the same house. I mean, I can't imagine we won't be going to Disney with John anymore, but it will be different. He'll be his own person traveling with us. And he is already knocking on that door.

But it's a good thing. He has really become what I was hoping in that blog four years ago. His inquisitive nature has blossomed and is now informed by knowledge and experience I don't have. We have begun seeing things from different perspectives, and enjoy sharing them with each other. That's what I'm looking forward to this trip.

Going to Disney and and getting to see it through your child's eyes is always magical. Even if that child is almost a grown man now. I am so very lucky.


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