The happiest place on earth. You know the place. I would even go so far as to say that it is not an exaggeration. So, when you witness your 6 year old’s eyes well up with genuine tears, you know something is very wrong.
- It was an accident! I swear.
- He is (and was) fine. I swear.
We were fortunate to be able to bring our children to the mouse’s kingdom one summer. One very, very hot summer. We had ourselves on an extremely strict budget, the kind where you go to a big box store, buy 50 tortillas for $5.00, a jar of peanut butter for $3 and call that lunch and dinner for a week. Seriously. We made it happen, we made it work, but there was no deviating from our budget. None.
Once per day, we were able to get them a treat in the park. We were sweaty and sticky and hot and tired so that treat was almost always ice cream. Let’s just say we were not the only ones who wanted a scoop or two of relief. As big as this treat was for our children, the line-up to get it was infinitely bigger. Being the amazing parents we are, of course we stood in that line.
Watching our children get more and more gleeful the closer we got to the window was exciting for us to watch. They truly understood that this was something special, this whole experience. Then finally, at long last, after what felt like an ice age, it was their turn to order.
They watched with bated breath as the young lady scooped the biggest scoop of chocolate ice cream that she could and placed it precariously on the cone. Then she handed it to our wide-eyed children with the biggest smile. We paid and immediately made a move to get out of the line so the pools of sweat behind us could order.
Jason, with the backpack securely on his back, turns around to say thank you one more time and…splat. It happened. Almost in slow motion. All we could hear was the collective groan from the crowd behind us. Every adult/parent in that line knew the pain we were about to be in. We could feel the empathy coming at us.
Disneyland | 2010
I watched Ethan as he looked from his empty ice cream cone to the melting scoop of chocolate ice cream at his feet and back again, trying to comprehend what just happened. It took about 4 seconds before his eyes filled with tears of disbelief. Of horror. Of dismay. Of disappointment. My heart broke as I saw this, mostly because I could feel his pain, but selfishly because I knew we were going to have to stand in that stinking line again.
By the time we had wiped Ethan’s tears and told him he was getting a new one, the beautiful young lady at the ice cream window had already made him a replacement and was handing it to him through the window with another one of her smiles.
Now it was Jason and I with tears in our eyes. Relief, joy, gratitude, all of it.
It is. It truly is. The happiest place on earth.
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