I read through a few parent blogs the other day and came across a post entitled "When Your Child With a Disability Isn't a Superstar." I love this post by Ellen Stumbo for her honesty about how we as parents can sometimes make our children and their achievements all about us. It reminds me of the joke about wearing clean underwear if you get into an accident because it would reflect poorly on your mother. As parents of children with special needs, we learn some things that other parents might not ever grasp. It isn't about us!
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Last night my family watched "It's a wonderful life" like we do every Christmas. Most of our pre-movie discussion was about the fact that the copy online was the restored colorized version. Some of us are traditionalists and don't like it when they colorize old black and white movies. It made some of the scenes better, and some I could have done without the color. The much better thing was that they cleaned up the audio so you could hear what everyone said.
I know we had about three months before all of the lockdowns and closers, but it seems like it has been a few years since I left my home without making sure I had a mask in my pocket. I also can't remember the last time I had an in-person meeting. Do you have Zoom fatigue as I do? In a conversation with a friend the other day, I lamented that I wished for everything to go back to the way it was. His response hit me hard, Bob, it will never be the same!
When I was young, I remember hearing stories about those who were part of the generation that lived through the depression, stashing money, and other valuables in their mattresses. As a young man who had not had much experience, this seemed unnecessary, but I had never seen a bank close, I had never had a time where food was not in my refrigerator. I had spent my life sheltered by my parents in very safe and stable times. The most I went through was the gas shortages in the seventies, and even that seemed more like an inconvenience than a real crisis. I was young and didn't have a job, so my memories are of waiting in line to get gas in my parent's car, which was more of a nuisance for a young boy.
My wife and I recently got the opportunity to go to Disney World. For us, it was probably a once in a lifetime trip. We timed our visit to be at one of the quietest times of the year, and everyone said it was not as busy, but if that is the quiet time, I don't want to ever be there during a peak time. Everywhere we went, there were thousands of others with the same plan. At one point, the new Millennium Falcon ride had a wait of two hundred and ten minutes. I can not understand why anyone would wait over three hours to get on a ride, any ride!