Today I was looking at pictures a friend posted on Facebook of a recent trip their family took to Disney World. They were adorable pictures, with all kinds of oversized-polka-dot-pants-wearing mice and heavily made-up princesses in the background. My friend’s girls were smiling huge smiles and it looked like a magical time was had by all.
And I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of resentment.
I never got to go to Disney as a child, and I have not been able to take my kids either. Critter is 9 and Varmint is 10 and the time for magic is growing short.
My Captain is working overtime as much as he can. And he manages to cover all of our needs so very well.
Disney is not a need. I don’t care what my kids say, it’s just NOT a need.
But then I see my friend’s Disney pictures on Facebook, and I can readily understand how my kids see it as a NEED.
On the news today I saw that the Maryland Senate has just approved income tax hikes so they can avoid spending cuts. And these hikes will affect yours truly to the tune of about $900.00 more. And I wonder how much of my money they take will be used for ‘need‘.
And I feel resentment.
But then I remember that we are taking the kids camping this summer…..TO MONTANA. That is the big-ticket item of the year. The item that My Captain is working so much overtime to pay for. (Note: flying 4 people from Maryland to Glacier Park does indeed cost the proverbial arm and leg.) My kids will be sleeping under the stars in Glacier, Montana….with the mountains and the lakes and the big sky and the bears, moose, and big horned goats. Those things are REAL. REALLY REAL.
They are not made up. They are not based on fiction. They are not the fantasies of a man long dead.
They are real. And we will be taking these Easterners…these kids who live a very East Coast middle class life, and plunking them down into the Great North West…within walking distance from the Great Continental Divide.
The experience is priceless.
The resentment I felt? LOOOOooooonnnng Gone.
Replaced with Teeming Gratitude.
Life is good.
Mama Boe 
I know about “big ticket” travel- just tickets alone, for all four of us to get to Chicago are over 6k, then rental car, hotels, gas, etc…. I don’t even want to add it up. BUT the memories BETTER be priceless, dang it!