(poem) - A Child's Imagination

Dreams come alive
Within a child’s eyes
When they see
A Princess at Disney

Yes I know
It seems like a cliche of old
But imagination runs wild
In the mind of a child



It’s a truly beautiful thing
To watch imagination sing
And see the light
Of dreams shine so bright

It makes me want to create
Or start an intense debate
And suddenly the universe is small
Stars don’t seem far away at all

As your soul drifts upon the air
So very far up there
Amongst the dreams of better men
Who had far better acumen

Sometime or another
The child goes back to their mother
Who knows the truth
Because she thinks she’s a sleuth

But the true fact is
She is not the true wiz
Because reality within a child’s eye
Is where the truth doth lie

Because imagination is the key
That makes the future shine brightly
Cultivate that sense of awe
That’s how we’ll get our last hurrah

Because whatever we can dream
We can make as a team
But it all starts in a child’s eyes
Where all those dreams exist because they are alive....

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Attention to Detail at Disney World

When I think of Disney World now, I think about how much detail went into everything.  The rides that tell stories, the animatronics....  It all makes for a pretty amazing experience.  When we walked into an art store, the amazing beauty of the artwork contained within was astounding, and really got me into the Disney atmosphere.

Walking around the parks, its hard not to notice the attention to detail, especially if you are looking for Hidden Mickey’s.  We didn’t do that on this trip, but we plan to in future trips.  But details are still all around you.  Around the Dumbo ride, there are peanuts embedded in the concrete.

A Vacation to Recover from the Vacation

Thankfully its been over a week since the return from Disney World, and honestly, I think we have just about recovered.  I remember awhile back there was an old joke running around some of the work places I would work, and they would say, “I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.”

Why do people work so hard on their vacation?  It’s a time to relax, but people make these huge plans that take so much out of you.  Is it really not a vacation to just sit around the house?  Be lazy and such?





I suppose not....  Fact is, it doesn’t matter how much time it takes to recover, the trip to Disney World was pretty amazing, and well worth it all.  We went well out of our way to make sure we did interesting things along the trip, to make it that much more interesting.

But the fact is, we needed help right from the beginning.  Heck, even before the trip started, things seemed to go a tad bit in the wrong direction.  I guess that’s when I knew it was going to be a good trip, because everything good seems to be lined out in bad.

We were planning this trip for some time, so we knew we wanted to get a jump on it.  The plan had been to be walking for some time before the trip, but we knew we needed to wait for the weather to become...well not freezing every day.  And finally the weather cleared up, a week and a half before the trip, and boom, everyone in the house got sick.

Yeah, the plan had been to increase our stamina by walking for a solid week before the trip, multiple times a day if we could, but we were all sidelined by laying in bed.  Lisa was perturbed by it, but I said, “At least we didn’t get sick on the vacation itself.”

Heading into the trip, we knew we’d have problems walking the distances required by Disney World.  We arrived Sunday night, and went to Downtown Disney.  By the end of it, we were all worn out, limping, and were starting to get blisters.  Yeah, we knew we were in for a ride.



The second major issue we had, was honestly my own issue.  I have developed a form of motion sickness over the years, and the first ‘ride’ we went on, made it blow up in my face.  There is a really cool roller coaster simulator at DisneyQuest in Downtown Disney.  When it went upside down, because there were no G-forces, all the blood rushed into my head.  I instantly broke out in a sweat, became nauseated, and developed a killer migraine.  It pretty much ended the night for me, though I still played Joust for awhile, which is still probably my favorite Atari game of all time.

By the end of the first full day, Lisa developed a blister on one of her toes, and I started to get major blisters on the pads of my feet.  But we trooped through it.  The pool and hot tub helped, as did some Band-Aids and extra padding.  By the end of the week, we could keep on trooping on, but with substantial breaks.

On the final day in the parks, C.J. ended up getting pretty violently ill.  I ended up getting the same sickness upon the return home, but that was later.  On that last day, I was going over the logistics in my head, the 18 hour drive with a banged up Lisa and I, with her having to go to work the next morning.  Her and I had talked frequently about how we were going to try to divide up the driving, so I could get rest in the morning, and drive all night.  Then Lisa twisted the hell out of her ankle halfway through the last day.

So....  The next morning, we woke up, and loaded the car, and I started driving at 10:30am EST, and pulled into the driveway at 3:30am CST.  18 hours almost exactly.  We added an hour and a half to the drive to avoid a storm in Alabama.  The next day I was violently ill with the thing C.J. had two days earlier.

In the end, yeah, it could have been far worse, so many things COULD have gone wrong, but in the end, we have a friggin’ awesome time.  Even after Lisa was hobbled up, limping on a swollen ankle, we still had an amazing time.  Through it all we developed memories as a family, and though we could have been better prepared, I will never forget this entire vacation, because it was so much fun....

(poem) - An Eighteen Hour Drive

If you have never driven
For eighteen hours straight
Then I suggest you never do
For it’s a horrible trait

It wears down your soul
Watching the road go past
Lines and stripes mark the time
Taking you away from where you were last



Energy drinks help
But only the body
For driving home like that
Makes you feel shoddy

You find yourself wishing
You could push the car a little more
Hoping there isn’t a cop
Waiting to knock on your door

You lay in bed
After the experience
Watching room drift towards you
Making you doubt your grasp on existence

It’s a test of endurance
A test of will power
Driving a car
Hour after unforgiving hour

But the thing is
You see some amazing things
Driving across America
Produces a gift that sings

Luckily I passed the test
Yet again
And we made it home
Safe within the bullpen

And now normalcy
Can creep back in
And I can enjoy the simple pleasure
Of relaxing deep within my den.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Magical Memories of Disney World

Well, the second honeymoon has come and gone, and Lisa and I learned a ton of things about each other and the world in general.  The main thing I learned is that Disney World is a pretty cool place.

Lisa had been there a few times before, and loved the place, but this time, she walked away from it all with a new appreciation for Disney.  We got into interesting little side things to do that really made the vacation that much more enjoyable.