Practical Magic.

More than 7 times in the years since 2017, I have ventured to that land of the little mouse in Orlando. Much could be said by a sometime cynic like me about these journeys: the crowds and the expense are not for introverts nor casual consumers.

Disney is a full on blast to the imagination, and a full on drain to the wallet.

Why go?

Each opportunity preserves an vital connection to my ‘first friend’ who I met at the age of tender age of 4 in September of my kindergarten year at Public School 312 in Brooklyn, New York; We travel there together. That 54 year long friendship, now the longest enduring relationship of my lifetime, has been punctuated by the too-early deaths of our mothers, by children grown and flown, by marriages (and my divorce), by moves here or there. Though I appreciate the wonder of Walt, I have most cherished the opportunity to be in the company of a friend who has travelled a life journey in parallel to mine, who knew me when, and sees me now.

There is true calm and solace in the connections of a lifetime. Thank you LBH; I hope you know what these journeys have meant.

Each trip also reminds me to accept my own child-like wonder. As a late-middle age soul whose life path was not always well lit, I have loved the opportunity to re-engage with those sentiments - lights, fast amusement rides, suspended realities, magic.

These days, more so than ever, we all need a bit of magic. Even the most practical among us.