Fulfilling a 30 year-old wish in one picture

Ever since we got back from Disney, a lot of people have asked me what my favorite part was, and to be honest, I’ve had a ton of trouble naming something. There just so much to the place, and so many things to love…and an equal number of things to strongly dislike. Not to mention that I spent pretty much the whole time we were there experiencing the magic of it all through my kids.

I think you’ll find that will color just about anyone’s opinion on a subject.

But there was one thing that meant a little bit more to me than anything else, something I hadn’t even considered until I looked up and saw the Epcot sphere through a tree (exactly as seen above; yes, of course I took a picture of it).

Way back in the Long Ago Times, when I was still learning multiplication tables and dinosaurs roamed the earth, I remember a day in elementary school when we read a Scholastic news bulletin featuring this brand new place due to open at Walt Disney World. A place with a focus on the possibilities of the future and the breadth of diversity on the planet we called home.

At least, that’s what the bulletin suggested the place was all about. At the time I didn’t recognize the obvious propaganda of a savvy marketing department. What can I say? I was a young, naive pre-geek with a love of all science fiction-y things.

So, see? The whole concept was right in my wheelhouse.

And, oh, how I wanted to go. But the muggy environs of central Florida might as well have been Ceti Alpha VI. There was no trip to Disney World destined for my childhood.

For 30+ years, then, I waited to visit Epcot.

And last week, my long wait came to an end.

Was it everything that 10 year-old me thought and hoped it would be? Well, I’ll just say that I think we all know what happens we both we and the objects of our wonder age for 30 years.

Was it my favorite part of the trip or my favorite experience there? No, for more reasons than I could reasonably write about in one non-War and Peace-length post

But for a few moments when we first arrived and an instant later in the day when I caught sight of that iconic sphere through a blossoming tree, I was that young, naive 10 year-old pre-geek again, with a fervent wish that had just come true.

If you ask me, any experience that makes you feel young again, even for a second, well, that’s a moment — and a feeling — to remember for as long as you can.

Pud’n