Last Friday, we surprised Julia with a trip to Disney World. We kept the plans secret – so hard to do! We had told her we were going to go out to dinner to celebrate John’s birthday and Julia being finished treatment. We planned to tell her after dinner. Julia wanted to go to Chinatown, but we were worried that with traffic, we wouldn’t make it to the airport in time. We decided to tell her after school and what a surprise it was! She was in total shock!
I tried to video the surprise, but it doesn’t do it justice. You can view if with this link (http://youtu.be/xNYNUhNSDmo). Julia was in shock – the entire drive to the airport, she kept saying “we are really going to Disney World?!!”
We spent four days, visiting the parks, riding the rides and celebrating! Julia was a daredevil – riding Space Mountain and Everest. She laughed out loud at the Muppet show, sang along with Nemo and was interviewed by Crush during Turtle time.
Julia also got to see all her favorite characters. She even got to meet her favorite princess, Rapunzul. After trying to see Rapunzel four times (and missing getting in line in time), we were ready to give up. But Disney has a way of working it’s magic. As we walked away, one of Rapunzel’s helpers saw Julia and said “come with me”. She brought Julia through the back way, straight to see Rapunzel. Julia grinned ear-to-ear, she was going to meet Rapunzel. And there she stood. Julia was a bit “star struck”,but Rapunzel bent down and spoke with Julia, asking her about the Disney Celebration pin she was wearing. Everyone stood quietly watching as our brave girl proudly told Rapunzul she was celebrating “No More Cancer”. Julia stood getting Rapunzel’s autograph and matter of factly added that her hair was starting to grow back and would soon be long like hers.
It was a magic moment. Not because of Disney, but because of our princess – her strength, her spirit and her joy of life. She continues to remind us how to live. She is amazing.