Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Magical Moments

We've been away for spring break, our first extended getaway as a family in about two years. We kids knew we were headed to San Diego; they did not know we would be stopping at Disneyland on the way there. The surprise was, I think, more for the amusement of the parents than the entertainment of the kids. Listening as the realization that we had pulled off the freeway into the Disneyland parking structure worked its way into the kids' brains was well worth the trouble of keeping the secret.

The kids were definitely happy, although they did not go bezerk when they finally worked out what we were doing. They revealed later how much it meant to them, though. Later in the day, I helped Michael down from a wall where he had been resting after several hours of traipsing around the Magic Kingdom. He said, "thank you, Daddy," in a way that made me look at him and ask him what he was thanking me for.

"Thank you for bringing us to Disneyland."

That kind of unprompted gratitude, occurring at an utterly random moment during the day, made me feel like Father of the Year.

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