THE MAGIC IN LIFE

They say time flies when you are having fun. Then again my very wise Grandmother always told me that the older you get the faster time goes by!  I sure would like to believe the first sentiment is why time is flying by so fast for me, though I know there is much truth in my Grandmother's wisdom as well.

I can hardly believe that in one more week I will have been in FL for a year!  So much has gone on in that year and I have learned so much about myself, but more on that next week.  Today I want to reminisce on last evening.

It was another in a long line of trips to  Walt Disney World. (I have certainly gotten the worth out of my annual pass this year!)  This time heading to EPCOT for a visit to The Food and Wine Festival.  While riding down on the bus I was musing on how I hadn't been as excited about this trip as I had others in the past and wondered if maybe I had been one too many times to WDW.  This I found a rather distressing thought!

 It had been a rather dreary day so far and the afternoon before I had spent standing out in an unexpected downpour watching a parade in The Villages.  It had been a dreary day all long yesterday as well.  I've been to Disney in the rain and was prepared with my disposable rain poncho, but really didn't want to face that yesterday.  Could this be part of my malaise?  I think so.  As we got closer to WDW the clouds broke up and the sun came out.  Disney magic at work???  By the time we arrived it was a beautifully sunny afternoon and the humidity had dropped like a dead weight. The excitement had returned.  I think I had just been sun deprived!

Faith and I started our trip by stopping in at Innovations West to have our free picture taken with Disney Characters, courtesy of  Chase and our Disney Visa cards.  Who would we meet today?  Ah, it's Minnie and Goofy.  I loved standing next to Goofy; he's my height. Then on to the Festival Center.  We just missed the free wine tasting, which I was sorry about since it was a South African wine they were offering, but we got our free chocolate and then broke down and each purchased a small cup of pure liquid enchantment; Ghirardelli Drinking Chocolate.  It was a decadently rich, slightly warm, liquid chocolate bar. I've never tasted anything like it.  YUM! 

Now it was time to move on into the Festival itself.  I had already had a preview of it a week earlier when at a friends invitation I joined her for a special day long presentation on the planning and building of EPCOT.  That event is another whole story, not for today.  ( I really need to get back to posting here more often!)
Anyway I already know the layout for the Festival and that the food was wonderful!  The big decision now in front of up is which of the 21 countries food booths to choose from.  What a dilemma. Not being able to decide, mainly because we really weren't hungry after that amazing chocolate drink, we headed back to the concert stage and the Boyz ll Men concert.  By this time I was into full Disney wonderment mode and it would only grow the rest of the evening.

I finally did settle on some food choices as the evening wore on.  Before we left for home I had Bratwurst on a Pretzel Roll from Germany; Baklava from Morocco; Steamed Mussels in Hoegaarden Beer Broth with a Baguette to sop up the broth; Dark Chocolate Mousse with Chili and Salted Carmel; and a Pumpkin Ale from Blue Moon.  All very tasty and just the right size portions and price. 

Why do I love Disney so much?  I think it is simple.  For me it is a magical place.  It's a place I can go and feel like dreams really can come true.  The sun suddenly comes out on an otherwise dreary day.  People are smiling, kids eyes are wide with wonder, and after a while mine are too.  EPCOT and the world showcase let me travel to places I've always dreamed of going but will in all likelihood never make it to.  Lat night we went to France.  As I sat in the theater watching the scenes of Paris, The Riviera, and the French Alps I could close out the theater and feel I was there.  At Disney I can go to concerts and revisit the music I love and all the concerts I never went to when I was younger and best of all they don't cost me anything additional.   But the best was yet to come. The Illuminations laser light show.

I can not describe the feeling I had watching this show.  I've seen it many times before and loved it.  I never tire of it.  Last night when watching it I had such a sense of wonder at its power and its beauty.  It no longer mattered that I was getting older, that I was returning to a home where I lived alone, that at times my body ached and I don't want to get out of bed.  For this moment everything was right!  For this moment I was sharing with tens of thousands the wonder of Disney and magic of not what is but what can be.

This is why I love going to Disney.  It's a happy positive place where people go to experience sharing in a love of a Mouse and the wonder of our world.  Call it escape. Call it what you will.

 I call it MAGIC!