As I've told people, Kenya was the most challenging and most rewarding adventure of my life - but it wasn't a vacation. At some point in the first week of the trip as the fatigue and hardship hit me particularly hard this fact became extremely evident to me. I knew that wherever I went next it was going to have to be a vacation spot, a place of rest and relaxation, and a restorative to my body, mind, and spirit.
Every four years for the past twelve, my family has traveled to Disney World - the ultimate playground of rich (and not so rich) Americans and people from around the world. A resort like no other, I have found Walt Disney World to be a place to relax and to enjoy the company of my extended family. Ironically, while not feeling homesick, it was Kenya that made me want to return to Walt Disney World. In a place where family means so much, I felt the poverty of not having my family with me. I decided that what I really wanted was a new opportunity to spend time with my family on vacation.
So in January of next year, I will travel to WDW one more time with my family and enjoy the companionship and the strengthening of familial bonds. I will embrace the quiet, the peace, the relaxation, the laughter, and the luxury. I might feel a little guilty about not spending that money and that time helping the less fortunate, but I will return from WDW feeling restored and ready to carry on.
And besides, my next trip after that will be a return to Kenya. But that's a subject for later...
1 comment:
Oh, man, I completely agree about WDW. I'm a little more embarrassed than you are to admit it. Disney is so much an expression of all the myths about America – even in Epcot which expresses what America wants to believe about the rest of the world. It’s small, and it’s one big happy family. There’s a part of me that can’t help being critical of Disney, but mostly I feel like a kid there, just giggling most of the time. It’s even more fun when you’re there with some other giggling kids. We’re taking the whole family out there this spring.
Post a Comment