Prison of Fun

I know if your household is like mine, you are taking no more backtalk from your teenager- whether she likes it or not, we are going to Disneyworld. No more arguing and complaining. She will just have to finish school at another time.
Oh, I know what you are thinking... cruel evil parents to be forcing your child to go to a nice hotel, eat meals out, fly on an airplane, and have to spend a day at an amusement park. Suffering builds character however, and if she will not go willingly, she will have to be dragged there.

The Disney tix are free- from a great program called "Give a Day, Get A Day", where organizations such as Destination Imagination give credit for a day at Disney in exchange for volunteer work. Airfare is cheaper than driving if we book soon, and Grandma Gert lives an hour from Orlando and we are long overdue for a visit with her. If I can pull it all together, I have a brief 4 day window that I wouldn't miss anything crucial and I will try to see Grandma and Disney. I can't do any lifting or kayaking or anything with my hurt elbow for probably at least 3 more weeks anyway. But first, I have to overcome the reluctance of my kid, who has no interest in Disneyworld.

Honestly, no disrespect to Disney, neither do I. I just feel every kid should see Disneyworld once in their life, if for no other reason than to see firsthand the gold and glitter and forced gaiety of excess. I understand Asherel's disinterest. Our passions run along the same riverbed. We love nature, animals, mountains, oceans, waterfalls. We both hate rides and noise and crowds. The tickets are non-transferable, so don't start writing me telling me how much you love rides, and noise, and crowds, and would love to put us out of our misery.

I always leave places like that feeling a little like King Solomon, the richest man of the Bible, who had everything he could ever desire- all the glitz and glitter, horses, parties, wives, food.... and in the end, found it all "vanity- a chasing after the wind." Still, since it is being dropped in our lap, I figure we should go see for ourselves why millions throng there. You never know what pearl of great wisdom might be hidden or where. Even Solomon, in the midst of his despair over the futility of so much of what we do in life recognized that God does send gifts of joy, and even sometimes wealth for us to find comfort on the often troubling journey of life. Maybe God is sending us to Disney for a purpose. We will don our Mickey Mouse ears the better to hear Him.

Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
¹⁸ Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.