{"id":4899,"date":"2018-02-12T11:06:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T19:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4899"},"modified":"2019-04-23T20:15:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T03:15:24","slug":"hopes-wishes-and-real-magic-walt-disney-world-magic-kingdom-florida-01-16-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4899","title":{"rendered":"Hopes, Wishes, and Real Magic \u2013 Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, Florida \u2013 [01\/16\/2018]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"You knew you were getting these
\nNo I didn\u2019t. I hoped\u2026but I didn\u2019t know<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

~ Some Kind of Wonderful<\/em><\/p>\n

There are some moments that you think you are prepared for, that you prepare for because you think you\u2019re supposed to, but deep down you don\u2019t believe they will ever really happen at all \u2013 not to you.<\/p>\n

Then when they actually do\u2026all the careful reactions you\u2019re dreamed up or rehearsed go completely out of your head, and all you are able to do is squeak..and… exist. That\u2019s it, just exist, in a bubble.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what really happened at the end of our day in Walt Disney World\u2019s Magic Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The end of the day always comes, and when it comes to leaving a Disney park, it makes me sad. An odd kind of sad; a very specific kind of sad, it makes me distant and not exactly edgy just\u2026away. Amras can spot of course, most close to me can, even \u2013 or perhaps especially \u2013 when I\u2019m trying to pretend it isn\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n

We had one fastpass left, for Buzz Lightyear, so we were on our way to Tomorrowland; and the easiest way to get there from where we were was across the bridge that runs between Cinderella\u2019s Castle and the Tomorrowland main gate. The bridge has concrete benches running along the sides, and we were sitting (or rather he was sitting, I was standing) looking out over the Tomorrowland waterway. I was\u2026half there. But I was determined not to let being mopey ruin the rest of the evening. It was only 5:50 in the evening, the park doesn\u2019t close until 8, there was still time. So I start to stand up from where I had been leaning against the edge of the bridge\u2026<\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s go shoot some aliens.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amras took his time getting up, at least, that\u2019s what I thought was happening\u2026at first\u2026<\/p>\n

Okay, we can go shoot aliens<\/em> he says\u2026<\/p>\n

But then he doesn\u2019t get up. He gets down<\/em>\u2026by the time I had fully turned back around, he was down on one knee. It\u2019s sunset, in the Magic Kingdom, the Castle is starting to glow behind me, Tomorrowland is stretching ahead of me… and Amras is on one knee in front of me, holding out a sapphire ring<\/p>\n

\u2026but you\u2019re going to have to marry me first.<\/em><\/p>\n

You think you\u2019re going to have the perfect comeback. The perfect thing to say. That you\u2019re going to be the one that doesn\u2019t cry. Let me clear that up: it doesn\u2019t work that way. All I could do was sit there, and for a second I couldn\u2019t say anything, couldn\u2019t do anything\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026.What?!?!..<\/em><\/p>\n

Here, at the entrance to the future, I want you to know that I don\u2019t want any of my tomorrow\u2019s to not have you in them. And we\u2019ll go on lots of adventures and do lots of crazy fun things, but I want to do them together. Shaughnessy, will you please be my wife?<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember what came next. I really don\u2019t. I remember being a little short of breath, and having a moment where everything just\u2026stopped. One of those \u201cthis is really happening\u201d moments that you hear about in the movies. I couldn\u2019t speak, the words wouldn\u2019t come, all I could do was clap both hands to my mouth and nod\u2026I think I did say \u201cyes\u201d but it was so breathless I barely even heard myself say it\u2026<\/p>\n

But there it was, shining on my left-hand ring finger.<\/p>\n

That evening we stood in the throngs of people bathed in the light of the fireworks, Amras behind me, with his arms wrapped tightly around me. If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would have been standing watching the most amazing fireworks display my heart had ever seen, with the light catching off of diamonds and sapphires on my ring finger\u2026I would have told them that I was far too grown up for fairy tales\u2026that things like that don\u2019t happen in real life.<\/p>\n

But that night, when Tink flew, it was as if that pixie dust really was just for me\u2026.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t<\/em> a fairy tale. Fairy tales are pretty on the page, but they don\u2019t translate to real life, this is \u2026love. This is work, and joy and pain and rollercoaster rides and challenges and recoveries and a dozen other things, love is many things, but easy <\/em>isn\u2019t one of them\u2026.and a fairy tale it isn\u2019t\u2026not in the conventional sense. I may be in love, but I\u2019m not starry-eyed, and I\u2019m not foolish\u2026<\/p>\n

But\u2026<\/p>\n

But\u2026<\/p>\n

Oh my goodness I\u2019m engaged\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You knew you were getting these No I didn\u2019t. I hoped\u2026but I didn\u2019t know ~ Some Kind of Wonderful There are some moments that you think you are prepared for, that you prepare for because you think you\u2019re supposed to, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[99,4,17,19,81,21,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beach-bound","category-below-the-waterline","category-reflections-below-the-waterline","category-theme-parks","category-transitions","category-vacation","category-wedding-bells"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1h1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4901,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4899\/revisions\/4901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}