where's the emergency exit? we can't take this anymore!

Last week we went on vacation to Orlando. Mostly we stayed by the pool, but a few times we ventured over to Disneyworld. Among the many trips down the waterslide with Bailey and float-side conversations with Kim, I had another memorable experience.

One night we made our way to Magic Kingdom and got there just in time for the nightly Spectromagic parade. The music soared through the air. "On this magic night, a million stars... da da da da..." What made this a neat experience is that 12 1/2 years earlier in just about the same place, I stood with Kim on our honeymoon having just been married a day or so before. Same place. Same music. Same parade. I remember holding her hand then. But, this time I watched the parade holding our daughter's hand. Bailey had her other hand on her mom's shoulder who had sat down on the curb placing her own hands close to our unborn daughter who I imagine felt the rhythm of the parade inside the womb.

It's amazing how fast 12 years can fly by. It's even more amazing how slowly that parade went by. I wish that more often I would take the time to soak in the richness of life's moments.

Whether ironic is the right way to describe what we did next, it was nonetheless, equally enjoyable. After living in the moment, we went to Tomorrowland and experienced the Carousel of Progress. The robot-like host sang, "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow shinin' at the end of ev'ry day. There's a great big beautiful tomorrow and tomorrow's just a dream away." I must say that everyone in the Newell family shared the same opinion. This was the cheesiest thing at Disney. We laughed. We mocked the characters. We sang the song with more than an ounce of sarcasm in our tone. And we laughed some more.

We missed the fireworks because the Carousel of Progress was creeping from the future back to the present. Nonetheless, we held hands while leaving the park walking through thousands of other families and honeymooners. And at least for an hour or so, I think we were the happiest family at Disneyworld.

Given the choice between living in the moment or visiting Tomorrowland, I'm pretty sure I'll go with living in the moments where a family can hold hands and sing of the magic nights and star-filled skies without being rushed into doing whatever comes next.