Day 322 - Saturday

 Today is the 7th day of the 46th week, the 18th day of the 11th month, the 322nd day of 2023, and:

• Apple Cider Day
• European Antibiotic Awareness Day
• Family Volunteer Day
• Independence Day - Latvia from Russia in 1918 and Morocco from France [and Spain?] in 1956
• Married to a Scorpio Support Day
• Mickey Mouse Day - the mouse is 95 today
• National Adoption Day
• National Princess Day
• National Survivors of Suicide Day
• National Vichyssoise Day
• Occult Day
• Push-button Phone Day
• William Tell Day
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 31m 04s of light travel time from Earth

Quote of the day:

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it all started with a mouse”

~ Walt Disney mused on a television program on October 27 1954 

When Frank found out neither I nor my kids had been to WDW, he insisted we had to go there on vacation immediately.  

Now I had grown up in the 1960's  when calling something "mickey mouse" was NOT a compliment.  Going to the theme park in Florida was not on the top of my dance card, but Frank seemed to think it was important, so off we went.  The first day in the Magic Kingdom was entertaining, but tiring - it was the next day in EPCOT that I suddenly and irrevocably became a Disney addict.  I remember it clearly - it was in the old Imagination ride, and we were seated in the front car as the clouds parted and Dreamfinder started singing and the realization hit me that this was one huge theater production, and I was allowed on the stage and got to interact with the cast!  

From that time on, Mickey Mouse and friends became part of our lives - we even became stockholders, although we never bought into the Vacation Club despite being tempted to do so many times.  We all have many happy memories of our vacations there through the years

I need those happy memories today.  Today, on Facebook, my dear friend posted one of those "copy and paste" posts that spoke of the toll cancer takes on family and friends as well as the patient, a post that was especially poignant for me.  My daughter is cancer-free today, but the treatments are left her totally disabled.  My son informed me last night he had decided to take my advice [and oh how heavily the weight of that responsibility of having answered his questions is weighing on me today], which echoed the doctor's [to my comfort] and chose a less aggressive schedule of chemo over the next month to give his body a respite, knowing that the tumors will probably accelerate growth as a result - echoing my words to him that it was a quality of life decision about how he wants to spend his remaining days.

And so, I went back to happier memories, times spent on vacation together, for example.  Many of them are stored in actual picture albums, having been taken well before digital pictures and snapshots from iPhones were stored online, and I browsed through those albums for a couple of hours, smiling reminiscently ....  

And then there are the ones taken in later years, like this picture of my two kids back in 2016 taken at the Animal Kingdom.  

In 2016, the year before we learned of her breast cancer. 

In 2016, seven years before we learned of his colon cancer that metalized to his lungs.  

In 2016, when I was not struggling with breath and able to walk for miles and only complain about my feet hurting.  

I gaze at the faces in these pictures, and remember how it was before cancer came into our lives and changed everything. 

They are good memories, and somehow, the house that Mickey Mouse built ended up being part of those memories.  That's why WDW is not just another theme park, not to many fans who return again and again for their fix of the pixie dust.  I can only hope the corporation realizes the power of their brand,  returns to their old ways  of maintaining the parks by high standards.