Larry and I decided in November to take the boys to Disney World in mid April. We kept it a secret from the boys and let them find out by discovering a box filled with Disney goodies 4 days before we left. At first, it seemed the toys were the only excitement to Hayden. We would say "did you hear us, we are going to Disney World?' His response was "yes, but Mommy, look at this spinner thing!" The next day, it finally started to sink in. "Mommy, I'm so excited that we are going to Disney World. I can't even stand it!" Of course, Larry and I were excited too. We've been several times and could imagine their little faces lighting up with wonder.
We flew out of Houston on the 11th. We weren't sure how Thomas was going to handle the flight and all that goes with flying. We managed to make it through security with relative ease. After a trip to get snacks, it was just a waiting game until time to board. Thomas was my airplane buddy and Hayden was Larry's. Hayden did awesome. He played his ds and snacked. Thomas was in his car seat. He did ok. He wanted to get out of his seat, but after the flight attendant brought him some milk, he fell asleep. Actually, he slept through the landing and the taxi to the gate.
Faces lighting up with wonder was exactly what we saw. I will NEVER forget the expression on Thomas' face when he saw the life size Woody in a parade. Hayden's eyes were twinkling when he saw "Disney World: aka Magic Kingdom from our hotel room.
DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Here's a picture of our new camera. We had been in the market for a new camera for quite a while. After lots of research and testing at Best Buy, we settled on this Sony cybershot. One problem. It wasn't suppose to come our until the first of April. We ordered it anyway and it was delivered on the Friday before we left. We got precious pictures of the boys and their cousins playing before we left, pictures of excited kids in their seats on the airplane and pictures of our first night at the Magic Kingdom (including the carousel, Dumbo ride and the tea cups).
That's where our pictures end. We lost our camera somewhere between the people mover and the monorail. We called the front desk of our hotel and discovered that Disney has a central lost and found. They really think of everything. Larry filed a report and was told that it can sometimes take several days for missing items to get processed and indexed.
Tuesday--no camera found
Wednesday--no camera found
Thursday--no camera found
We decided not to go check on Friday because it was gone.
My first thoughts were of all the pictures I'd miss without my camera. I thought of the blank scrapbook pages. We did have our iphone pictures and of course, the Disney photo pass. I was just blown away by the fact that someone found the camera and decided not to turn it in. Did they look at all those precious pictures of the cousins playing? Did they think about the mom who would be missing all those photographic memories? Probably not, otherwise, they would have turned in the camera.
I had a choice to make. I could be full of anger towards that person or I could let go. I could be upset about the moments I couldn't capture with my iphone camera. OR, I could cherish my family and the memories that I camera couldn't or wouldn't be able to capture.
I chose, after some prayer, to let go. Instead of anger, I prayed for the person who found the camera and used it for themselves. I hope that they were able to capture precious memories of their vacation that they will treasure always. This was, by no means, easy for me to do. Human nature tells us to hate those who do harm to you. Jesus said "And if someone want to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." (Matthew 5:40). It's not easy to follow God's path. The good news is that we don't have to go it alone. I've had to ask God, constantly at times, to help me forgive and give them my cloak too. After all, they may have our camera, but they don't have our memories.
With love to all,
Larry, Kori, Hayden and Thomas
Hey Kori. So sorry to hear about your camera, but I really needed to hear your post. It is hard to let go of the fact that someone took the camera and knew that it didn't belong to them. Our camera was stolen at the hospital in Dallas where the kids were born. We lost countless pictures of their precious first days after birth, and I always fumed about the fact that they saw the pictures of us and our babies (intubated, first pics together, with Lesley, etc) and deleted them to use as their own camera. Disappointing, but you are right. It is the right thing to do to just let it go. We will always have to experience and memories in our hearts :)
ReplyDelete