July 9th, 2013
My son's shoe was about 2 feet from my closest fingertip, but it might have been a mile away. The bright orange and black sneaker highlighted the black sidewalk as it teetered on the curb's edge that lines Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom Park.
It's the final resting place of a toddler shoe, size 7, after a quick tantrum from Christopher, my youngest son. We had just spent a long day fighting crowds and cheering Mickey. It consistently expends all of our energy, especially entering the park after an exhausting day of driving for 3 hours.
Earlier, after searching for an adventure for my boys to occupy their weekend, I drove my boys to all places, Disney World. Which is nothing new. I would have taken my boat out instead of tackling the long journey north of my house, but it seems that ever since I bought the craft in August of 2012, the weather has just been shitty. Unless, of course, those days I was working were freak-in-pristine.
There are a lot of other activities I could do with the boys, like the park or bike riding and the museum, but getting in the car and traveling seems the most fun. The drive alone fills the hours. Besides, I pay for Disney's Annual passes for all of us, so I might as well get my money's worth.
The one thing I did change from our usual activity was the hotel. Usually, we stay somewhere on Disney property so my boys can enjoy the visual and magical experience of a Walt Disney World Resort. This really translates to a plethora of the little damn mouse ears and Micky silhouettes that can be seen plastered on the walls, blankets, bath soap, rugs, molding... that you won't see in other competitor hotel rooms.
My boys can be a little spoiled, but they occasionally deserve an escape from reality. Don't we all?
As for me? Well, I'll continue doing what I've been doing. Get up for work. Get home from work. Take care of the boys. Have a day off, take care of boys, write my blog, write my book, learn more about writing my book by reading other writers' books, and so on. I'm not griping about the cards I have been dealt. I'm honored to have children. I just miss sleep every now and again.
However, I do have my own limits. When I reach the max of those minutes, my eyes are bloodshot, my voice hoarse, and my nerves shot. It's usually about when the boys begin to work on my last bit of patience.
But I put a good face on and smile, then I push forward for my boys, pretending I don't notice their tantrums or not hearing their yells of displeasure because they didn't have their way. Yup, I'm having a grand ole time. Disney is a magical place on earth, or it can be purgatory at times.
Today, once we arrived, I pushed the stroller forward off the monorail into the post-American 4th of July holiday crowds of the Magic Kingdom. I moved the stroller to the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted House. After the Haunted House, I shuffled out of the exit, turned the stroller a little left, up an incline, through the tunnel made of wood and structure, into Fantasyland. I placed the boys onto more rides, like Peter Pan, then rolled on to dinner and slushed back over to Main Street to check out the Electric Parade.
A parade that electronically passes through the main streets during the park's nighttime hours. Each float has thousands of LED lights that sparkle and shine to music. It's a sight to see!
My body began to run out of steam. Pushing was becoming less and less of an option. I just had to push the stroller far enough to escape from the crowds standing along the curbs of the park and hordes of standing people trying the damnedest to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.
My magic flight was going well, and we could see the park's large EXIT sign until Christopher decided he wanted out of the stroller to get a lollipop that he happened to notice in a storefront window. Never mind that he didn't want to see the magnificent lights of the Electric parade. This boy just caught a swirly lollipop in a low-lighted window 4 feet above his head!
Of course, feeling the forward movement of the stroller, he laid his front feet into the ground, grinding the cart to a halt. My forward momentum stopped suddenly. Nico, my oldest son, who was perched on my shoulders so he could have a bird's eyed view of the parade, held on and announced, "No, Baby!' (Christopher's nickname)
Like a cha-cha line, the line of people following me towards the exit also had to stop abruptly. "Go! Go!" I heard the shouts from the mob. What happened to the Disney magic?
"Christopher!" I yelled, "Pick up your feet, now!"
I yelled loud, not just out of frustration, but I had to overcome the music from the parade and the chorus of people behind us telling us to "keep moving forward." Wow, had their fairy dust dissipated. The people, like the boys and I, just wanted to leave.
Christopher wouldn't budge. He wanted that lollipop at all costs! It may even have cost me my life with an angry mob behind me. I was the bottleneck, halting the stream of people behind me. The dam blocks the flow. The people were slowly pushing the other Disney goers into the parade route, standing in one place watching the show!
"Christopher, pick up those feet!" I said again over the electric music.
I used my body weight to lean forward on the stroller's main push bar when the front wheels popped up as my body weight hoisted the stroller's front 2 wheels in the air.
Got it- I thought.
With the stroller in the air, I moved out so the crowd could stream out of the park. I moved to a tiny corner just out of reach of the crowd's hisses.
I went to my knees in the front of the stroller when I noticed Christopher had a missing shoe. It was to my left, just out of my reach. I could only shake my head. I just wanted to sleep. I wanted out of Mickey's madhouse.
As I looked at the shoe, I tried to bring it to me because I was too tired to move. When my kinetic energy wasn't working, I resorted to walking on my hands and knees until I could stretch out like a person in a Yoga class and grab the back end of the shoe. I was done!
We quietly made our way to the monorail, and just by luck, there was room to board it with plenty of seating. As I sat in relief, I admired my boys for having survived a long day until the very end.
I began to stretch my neck to loosen up when I saw the illumination of my phone light up the inside of my carryall bag. The light captured a set of Mickey Mouse ears. The red color lighting inside the bag is red. I reach inside and remove it. The red ears were a lollipop!
"Look, baby. A lollipop!" I was so excited.
"No," he said. "No lollipop."
Check, please.
July 9th, 2013
1,246 words