Pass Me the Mickey Ears

Happy Friday, friend.

Today is a busy one over here. My son has his end-of-school band concert this afternoon, and then we’re headed to Disney World lol. In case you haven’t noticed, we are a Disney family. We live close enough to drive there, Florida residents get crazy good discounts, and it’s just become part of our family culture over the years.

Honestly, us heading to Disney this week feels strangely fitting because it reminds me of another Disney trip we took during another really strange moment in history.

This week the news has been… interesting. And if you let it, a little scary. A virus outbreak on a cruise ship triggering PTSD in all of us, rumors of forthcoming government disclosures that sound like science fiction, wars, gas prices, economic uncertainty… it’s enough to make your head spin.

Years ago during the pandemic, I remember being absolutely overcome by everything happening around me. I was gripped with a level of anxiety I had never experienced before, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it.

My husband, pragmatic as ever and fully embodying his enneagram 7 personality, walked up to me one random day in the summer of 2020 and said, “You can stay home and be scared if you want to, but I’m taking the kids to Disney World. Come with us or stay home. Your choice.”

I looked at him like he had completely lost his ever-loving mind.

But after about two days, I decided being scared at Disney World sounded better than being scared at home, so I went.

I won’t lie, it was odd. The official lockdowns were over, but signs of the strange new pandemic world were everywhere. And yet somehow, there were still normal things too. Ice cream bars and popcorn. Music and rides. Swimming pools and Mickey ears.

In spite of myself, by the end of the trip I was smiling. And even though I hadn’t forgotten about the pandemic, by some miracle I had discovered a way to live in the tension of a world unraveling while still defiantly clinging to the joyful, embodied experiences that make life worth living.

Looking back now, I think that trip to Disney was the beginning of my journey to learn how to live as an exile.

So back to today. It feels like we’re living the same song, different verse of “this is a strange new world.” The headlines may look a little different now, but the invitation is still the same: will you crumble under the pressure and the shaking, or will you look around at the chaos and say, “to hell with it… pass me the Mickey ears.”