Jumbled words. Fragmented phrases. Images of Disney World still swirling in my mind. It’s a small world after all, isn’t it. Is it?
While we frolicked with thousands of people from around the “small world” of Disney in Florida two weeks ago, the United States began what has become the 4th. longest shutdown in American history. As of October 17th. approximately 900,000 federal employees have been furloughed, and many of those who remain have not been paid. Many will be laid off, permanently. The shutdown began on our granddaughter Ella’s sixth birthday, the 1st. day of October.
As we rode the rides in Disney World for Ella’s special day, federal forces and members of the Tennessee National Guard were deployed in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of the Trump administration’s overall plan to send federal troops to American cities including Los Angeles, Washington, D. C., Portland, Oregon, Chicago, and the southwestern border.
Jumbled words. Fragmented phrases. Images of Disney World still swirling in my mind. It’s a small world after all, isn’t it. Getting smaller, I fear, for my little granddaughters.
In a telephone call with one of my favorite first cousins earlier this week, I mentioned I had the overwhelming feeling I was “winding down” in my life to which he responded, you’re not winding down anywhere, you’re cruising. The thought gave me pause because I do feel the inclination to let it all go, as three-year-old Molly loudly sings with her hero Queen Elsa in Frozen; sorry, Sweet, too soon to cruise past your future without protest.
Tomorrow is another No Kings Day of Protest. Remember the words of Congressman John Lewis about the purpose and power of our protests. Protest is an act of love, not one of anger.
Despite the inauspicious beginning of last week’s Disney World adventures, I gave the journey through the Kingdoms a 10+ on a scale of 1 – 10. Caroline had planned the entire trip for us, which is always our preferred planning process for family fun. Pretty and I depend on our daughter-in-law for all event scheduling; and this trip for our granddaughter Ella’s sixth birthday was arranged for maximum smiles, laughter, thrills, and memory makers as my mother used to say.
Molly wears Nana’s new hat – who had more fun with the hat?
Olaf, bubbles and a Mickey Mouse sticker turn stroller into magic
Daddy knows best – and had the most fun with his girls
it’s all good
wake up, Naynay – this ride is the best
don’t be mad, Jimmy Kimmel, it’s my birthday
is that really Elsa? I love her
should I try face transformation to match my bonnet?
it worked for Molly
ask me how old I am
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party fireworks
(waiting for the spectacular display,but it had been a long day)
I wondered if the moonlight that covered us as we left the Magic Kingdom that night was real or a part of the Halloween Party light display – just kidding – I wanted an excuse to include this image.
I wish Mommy would let us live in DisneyWorld
Alas, all good things come to an end…birthdays are special times, but they only come around once a year while good times with family happen every day, anywhere.
homeward bound with a big girl whohas new worlds to conquer
while little Molly says no, thank you, I need a nap –
We took a road trip last week from our homes in Columbia and West Columbia, South Carolina, to Orlando, Florida, to celebrate granddaughter Ella’s sixth birthday on the first day of October, 2025. Parents Drew and Caroline with grandparents Nana and Naynay left on a Monday with granddaughters Ella and Molly two days before Ella’s birthday and returned on the Sunday five days afterwards which meant we were gone for seven days in case anyone is counting. We stayed on the premises of Walt Disney World for a fabulous, fun time arranged by Ella’s mother Caroline with the help of a woman she met in her business networking group.
The 450-mile drive down the I-95 corridor should take 6 hours and 30 minutes (unless you stop several times along the way including an hour visit to one of the countless Buc-ees in Georgia where Ripley’s Believe It or Not should know it’s possible to spend $8. per minute.)
and I have the receipt to prove it
Ella the Birthday Girl looks happy to climb a light pole
in Buc-ees parking lot
are we there yet? not yet
Day One: Typhoon Lagoon at the Orlando water park
Ella leaps from a canoe while Molly a bit more cautious
Both Ella and her younger sister Molly (three years old, will be four in January) are water lovers – what could be easier to start the magic of a Disney vacation and work out the kinks from ten hours in the car on Monday than a Tuesday at a pretend beach with a pretend ocean to begin to get a sense of the fun we would experience every day for a week? What could possibly go wrong?
Sigh. These days, if there is a way for me to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I am apt to do it. Day One took a frightening turn for me when I wandered around the entire circumference of the Typhoon Lagoon with little Molly in tow while I looked for our family in their beach chairs. The more we walked, the more every part of the lagoon looked the same. I realized we were lost.
Suddenly Molly broke free from my grasp and ran toward one of the large water slides. I had a sickening feeling as she climbed the steps with the much older children, smiling at me when I yelled for her to get down. A teenage girl who was the life guard sat at a little table at the top of the stairs but seemed oblivious to my calls and gestures for her to stop Molly before she reached the big slide.
Then she vanished. By that time I was also moving as quick as I could through the water to climb the stairs. I can’t see my little girl, I screamed at the lifeguard. I think she just went down your slide, and no adult was there to catch her!
What color suit was she wearing? Pink, I answered.
I think I see a little girl down on the beach in a pink suit. She looks like she’s crying. You can’t see her unless you go back down the stairs, she added.
I turned around, flew down the stairs (again “flew” is subjective for a 79 -year- old woman), and there stood a tearful Molly with a kind random couple who were trying to understand her tears. Molly’s look was relief mixed with what? I’ll never know for sure, but I do know she was happy to see me.
Minutes later the search party of Molly’s daddy and Nana reached us to rescue us from our wanderings. Frantic cell phone calls from Nana had identified our location. Once upon a time we were lost, but now we had been found. All was well at the Typhoon Lagoon.
Ella was happy to have her little sis safe in her arms
Travel tip: make sure Naynay remains where you last saw her. Trust me – she did.
*******************
Mystery of the Missing Legacy Award Solved by Pretty and Drew
Teresa found the award in Drew’s truck when we were packing for our trip. He didn’t know we didn’t know he had it! It’s appropriate for us to place it in our den in front of Drew’s high school football picture, don’t you think? Whew. So thankful to have it home where it belongs – not nearly as grateful as I was to find Molly, though.
Actually, you might not know who “me” is because these are lines spoken by Violet, the Dowager Countess, in Season 5 of Downton Abbey.
Pretty and I are now members of a movie group that began last week with a viewing of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale at The Nickelodeon. We loved Downton from its beginning in the US on the little screen in 2011 and needed no coercing to go see the latest (and possibly final) movie on the big screen
I have now officially gone down a rabbit hole on quotes from Mrs. Patmore and others in the Downton series. “You can’t spend too long on a one-sided love,” said Mrs. Patmore to Daisy in Season 3. If only I’d known that sixty years ago.
Mrs. Patmore, the cook for the family, was passing her pots and pans to the young Daisy who was next in line to take over the kitchen reins. She delivered what I found to be the most compelling lines in the Grand Finale movie: “Our lives are lived in chapters – and nothing is wrong when one chapter ends and another begins.” Hm. What do you think about that? I’ve found the lines are often blurred between endings and beginnings, especially when one person sees the ending and another person doesn’t. Chapter be damned; life is messy.
“We must all have our hearts broken once or twice before we’re done,” said Mrs. Hughes, the head housekeeper, in Downton’s Season 4. Tell it, Sister.
Mr. Carson was the Butler of Downton Abbey throughout the series and one of my favorite characters. “The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end, that’s all there is,” he said in Season 6. Make memories every day, okay?
Finally, I’ll close with a quotation from Cora, Lady Grantham, in Season 3: “I think accepting change is quite as important as defending the past.” When Cora spoke, everyone listened.
Thank the gods of the little screen and the big screen for Julian Fellowes, the great philosopher who was the creator and writer for the characters we came to know and love in Downton Abbey.
Do you have a favorite line and/or character from the series?
An irregular visitor to our backyard, startling me with its beauty and attempts to communicate something that remains a mystery since my first sighting of this butterfly in August, 2018, followed three years later in September, 2021, and then again in November of 2023.
Even with my rudimentary knowledge of butterflies, which is less than rudimentary, I understand this is not the same butterfly because the life cycles of adult butterflies are measured in days or weeks, rarely months, and never years.
But sometimes my mind takes flight in a fantasy which allows me to feel this particular butterfly that flew around me yesterday was an old friend who pops in for a visit periodically to remind me that the spirits of my family buried in the Texas soil of Fairview Cemetery in Grimes County have never been totally gone from the person I became because of them. Somehow this butterfly comforts me, gives me hope.
And that’s a good thing, as my Aunt Lucille was fond of saying.
See you next time, my butterfly friend. Safe journeys.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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