I had only been home from Kentucky for less than 24 hours when he came into the kitchen to state that the toilet was smoking. He said it, but could not keep a straight face as his cheeks started to turn upward. I was just entering my what-the-eff-now state of mind when I saw him conceal the smile so I played along.
The toilet is smoking.
Stogies apparently.
Good work, Grant. Good work.
Twenty years ago, I packed by duffle bags and in a few short weeks of training, medical updates, and briefings, found myself in Baghdad, Iraq. Lisa and I were only engaged a few weeks at the time. Samantha was seven years old. We departed each other's company at Syracuse International Airport. I distinctly remember Samanth running past security to give me one more hug. I remember a lot of tears, even from bystanders. I was something right out of a movie.
I remember getting into Baghdad in the middle of the night. It was hot. I was tired. I was scared. I was scared not so much for myself but for the family back home who would worry about my safety.
The deployment passed. There were moments of terror and some personal trials of leadership under fire. Through it all, I had the light at the end of the tunnel of seeing Lisa and Samantha and my family again. Somewhere in late June 2005, we all happily reunited.
And life fast forwarded twenty years. We married. We moved to North Carolina. We had children. We grew up - including Samantha who went on to graduate from a prestigious university with an Army ROTC Commission.
Earlier this year we learned that Sam was going to deploy. My heart both rose and sank at the same time. It rose knowing that she was going to go into harm's way and learn firsthand some of the lessons I learned. Some stories can be told. Others require the experience.
Earlier this month I took her to her unit at zero-dark-early. Flooded by sodium lights, families gathered in the parking lot as Soldiers moved gear into trucks and exchanged last hugs. So, this is what is feels like to say good-bye from this side. Sam was in work mode, a convenient excuse to not get bogged down in the emotions of the situation. I was in let-her-do-her-thing mode for the same reason.
She kept her phone on for a long time. Long enough to watch her plane taxi on the runway heading to someplace over there. There was a heavy sigh. It came from me.
Welcome to graduate level parenting and adulting.
Here is the back story:
With a big summer ahead of us, Lisa in her new role at Meredith College, TJ starting a real paying job as a Camp Counselor, Grant heading off to Camp for a month, and me heading to Kentucky for a summer assignment, there isn't a lot of down time for Lisa and me. A modern family with teenagers, we are busy!
Nonetheless, I was able to find three days on the calendar for Lisa and me to get away after the boys were gone and before I go to Ft. Knox. I hinted to Lisa that we should use our Disney Vacation Club membership to go to Walt Disney World for a few days and spend a day at Epcot. Lisa said yes under the condition that we could stay at the Polynesian Resort - a very exotic, and very hard to get resort. Lisa picked it because she hung out in the resort's lobby back in February when I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon. She commented along the lines of, "I want to stay there!" I went on the website and was Waitlisted - the Disney equivalent of "nice try, but sorry, no." Then two days later I received an email that our reservation went through for a suite with a view of the lake and Magic Kingdom! This was a win.
However, as they say in the commercials, "Wait! There's more!"
Moving forward, I made reservations at some awesome Epcot restaurants. Pizza in Italy. Steak in Canada. We even scored a reservation at the Villian's Lair, a DVC member only lounge at the top of Bay Lake Tower about thirty minutes before the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Everything was looking up for a short and wonderful DWTK (Disney Without the Kids) trip.
Then came Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
For the uninformed, Tiana's Bayou Adventure replaces the former Splash Mountain, a log flume ride with a 50' drop. Splash Mountain was problematic with its theming - or at least the history of the film the theming was taken from, Song of the South - and it was ready for an update. Honestly, retheming the ride based on the Princess and the Frog makes perfect sense. The water, music, and characters from the movie easily fit into a get-wet ride.
The refurb has been closely watched by Disney Files for months. Because it rises high into the sky it is easy to see over the construction walls around it and fan pages and blogs are full pictures and theories of the ride's story line. There are official videos out there demonstrating the state-of-the-art animatronics. Then, Disney released the official opening date for the end of June.
Fittingly, Juneteenth.
I found the registration page and with nervous anticipation, I watched the timer on the window count down from the 3 hours and some odd minutes when I first entered it to 0:00 and was redirected to the website. Starting at 352 in line, I watched the number quickly go down until I was in and entering our information and clicked submit.
We. Got. In.
It makes me grin just thinking about it. Disney has always been a member of this family. The Brown family has had many wonderful memories with Disney: races, cruises, vacations, holidays and even nights in front of Disney+. We are looking forward to another one very soon! Some of the very first people to ride a new Disney attraction!
In fact, we're almost there!
