finding the magic at Disney

Took the kids to Disneyland in Paris this past week ...

Kids absolutely loved it, but was dragging my heels since I'm absolutely NOT a big fan of crowds, long lines, or non-stop music.

Or the commercialism of it all --- at every corner there's the temptation to consume (eat, drink, BUY!) -- and it seems like everybody's carrying a blue 15-year anniversary bag stuffed to the gills, meaning they just caved in and bought another something or other that they absolutely DO NOT NEED. Watching all of this left me feeling a bit ill, and wondering to myself ...

Isn't simply BEING at Disney enough?

Was enjoying mulling this question over, when an answer came SMASHING me in the face. And it didn't come from Disney at all, at least not this answer. It's not really surprising when you think about it ...

Phoebes and I were waiting in line for a ride, when I struck up a conversation with a British lady and her 4-year old daughter. Turns out she booked this trip to Disney just 3 days prior, because her 18-month old son had leukemia, and with his weekly blood test routine, they had to plan things last minute. And they wanted to make this trip to Disney because they didn't know how much longer he had to live.

Now, if you're the emotional sort, like myself ... you might want to stop right here. It is a sad story indeed, but it's also tremendously uplifting. And remindful of the power of the human spirit and the will to succeed against all odds. I will preface it by saying that this mom deserves a Medal of Honor for all she's been through!

Her son was born with an adult form of leukemia, so rare that apparently he's the only one in the world with this type. Lumps the size of golf balls covered his body -- they kept calling it cellulitis. Time and again they discharged her sick son, even though he had low hemoglobin counts -- and recorded in their books, "mom's being difficult, been on the internet again". It took 23 consultations and 6 months to get the correct diagnosis - and in the past 12 months he's been through 6 rounds of chemo! Turns out it was a DERMATOLOGIST that biopsied one of the lumps and made the determination.

Tears are welling just thinking about it again ...

And the tears welled at Disney ... because after i heard her story, I began to imagine all the stories of kids that were being wheel-chaired around Disney (and there were lots of them) and also around the world. And for them, I think it probably is enough at Disney ...

to BE!