Monday, February 23, 2009

A Second Chance With Dumbo



(As a note-Now that we have finalized our adoption I will be using the real names of Mason and Madison)

It was quiet in the car. Mason and Madison were reclined in the back seat and sleeping. A stuffed monkey with a Mickey Mouse hat lay next to Madison and Mason was snuggled up with a smile on his face. It had been a good trip and we were headed home.
Kirk was driving, so I clicked on my camera and started to flip through the pictures I had taken. My small view finder was hardly adequate for really looking at the pictures but I couldn’t resist. I paused on one picture in particular, and zoomed in to see the faces closer. I smiled at the facial expressions and reveled in the memories that were captured in that moment.
My mother in law will, on occasion, tell a story about when they took Kirk to Disneyworld when he was 5 years old. Mom was looking forward to seeing Disney through the eyes of a child. It was a day of getting pictures with Disney characters and going on rides. By the time they headed back to the hotel, they were exhausted. The car was quiet. Mom glanced in the back seat expecting to see a sleeping little boy, but instead, Kirk was sitting in his seat with tears running down his cheeks. She was alarmed, “What’s wrong Kirk?” His sad answer was, “I didn’t get to ride Dumbo.” She would always end the story with, “Isn’t that the saddest thing you ever heard?”
30 years later history got to repeat itself-kind of. The day that Mason and Madison were adopted, a court volunteer, who had worked with the kids since they had been in care, took us out to lunch. We had been warned in advance that she was surprising the kids, and us, with a trip to Disney to celebrate the adoption. It was so fun to see their reaction as their eyes went from unbelief, confusion, and then excitement, as the reality of the gift hit them.
Two months later, in early November, we walked through the entry gates to Disneyland in California. We already knew that we were going to ride Dumbo. Mason rode with Kirk in one elephant and I rode with Madison in another elelphant directly in front of the boys. As the ride took off, and we started flying, I looked back and snapped a picture of Kirk and Mason smiling.
“Snap”… A mothers sad tale was redeemed, and two children were skimming the sky with their new dreams.

1 comments:

Bonnie said...

Aww, that is sad! And I can hear Kirk's mom saying that! Glad you all had a great trip!