Are we there yet – the question so frequently asked by children between the ages of three and twenty three. I say twenty three because that is the age of my older sister, who still asks that same nagging question every time we are in the car for more than twenty minutes. Sometimes I think she just does it to be vexatious, but who knows. I guess I was just the good child because I can count on one hand how many times I have asked that question. I can remember one time, specifically, when I asked that question more than I probably should have. I was four years old and I dragged the toddler sized Winnie the Pooh suitcase behind me as I weaved my way through the sea of adults that seemed like giants in comparison to my small forty inch frame. We were at the airport and our destination was Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. I guess you could say I was more than excited, I was exhilarated; but what would a trip be without that same grumbling question? My question wasn’t “are we there yet”, but “When will I get to meet Mickey and Minnie, Daddy”, occasionally swapping Mickey and Minnie with characters like Donald and Daisy or Cinderella and Belle. The short hour and a half nonstop plane ride felt like a ten hour extravaganza. Upon our arrival, our bags were waiting for us in our room. My dad could barely get the hotel room door open fast enough, and I darted in took of my shoes, jumped up on the bed, went to the bathroom, changed my clothes, and put my shoes back on and was waiting by the door to go out and start having some fun. My dad could barely get his suitcase open in time.

***

My dad and I spent a few days by ourselves before the rest of my family arrived. I don’t know how we managed to fit six people in one small room with two full size beds and one bathroom. My dad, Grandma, Aunt Lisa (whose name I could never pronounce when I was younger, so she was just called “Sissy”), Uncle Steve, Uncle David, and I went to every single park. In all of the commercials for Disney World that you’d see at the time featured little kids riding the Dumbo ride with a Disney character. I had my heart set on riding the Dumbo ride with Belle, but thinking back on it now, I know that my dream was completely unrealistic. According to my Dad, the line was “too long” and it was “too hot” out to wait in line for a ride that would last 2 minutes. Of course, I was heartbroken. My dad offered an alternative solution to the problem that, at the time, seemed like the end of the world. He brought me over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride. The Winnie the Pooh ride was “for babies only”, I remember saying; my four year old self was too big to go on it. As it turns out, that ride ended up being my favorite and it was the only ride I wanted to go on for the next three days of our stay in Disney World.

***


It was late at night, maybe 10:30 or 11:00, and we were all piled into the ugly yellow Pontiac Aztek (which my dad absolutely hated) we had rented for our stay in Florida. We had spent the day in Orlando studios and we were headed back to our hotel in Disney. The next thing I knew, our ugly yellow Aztek was crashed into a wooden telephone pole. Luckily, no one was hurt except the car. As you can imagine, my dad was thrilled to be able to get a new rental car, but was disappointed when we were presented with another Aztek, in tomato red. That night, my Grandma, Aunt and I got to ride back to our hotel in a police car. That is the only time I plan on riding in the back of a police car. I’m not sure how the others got back to the hotel room, but our Disney trip went on as planned, as if nothing had happened the previous night.

***


Family is the most important thing in the world. Without it, we’d be all by ourselves. We’d have to live independently. I am extremely grateful for that trip to Disney World I was able to take because it taught me the importance of being grateful for the family I was born into. I love them more than the world, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.