Magic Kingdom

To my son Tommy,

Mommy: "Thanks for a great day boys. Tommy, what did you think of today?"

You (very matter-of-factly): "Oh... well... just the best day ever."

I laughed when you said it because on one of the rides (Stitch's Great Escape) you were crying and screaming, "I am so scared! I am afraid I am going to die!" I felt so horrible and helpless and thought I am due another one of those parent/of-the-year awards. Just put that future therapy bill on my tab!

Otherwise, two rides broke down while we were on them. And every time we got close to a character for a pic and autograph, they seemed to need a break or cast member change.

But here we are, with you thinking the day is your best day ever, and none of the things that went wrong matter. Those things aren't even a glimmer of thought. You thought of all your blessings. If you use that same attitude and thought only of the good no matter what goes wrong, you will live an amazingly happy life!

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

P.S. Only a couple pics by me to share but a bunch by the photo pass people that we will download and share after the trip and a few more by your mom to grab later!

 

Annoying Dad

To my son Tommy,

I figure the next couple of days of post will quickly become annoying to those who read my letters to you. So be it. This is your first time in Disney and I have no qualms about being that annoying father that shows way too many pics of the family vacation.

You are not a morning person at 4:30 AM.

But then I reminded you where we were going.

Mommy-Tommy selfies at the airport.

Mommy and you chillin' at Disney Springs, you with your new Spider-Man sunglasses and a cherry Mickey shaped lolli and Mommy still getting used to her new wheels for the week.

We did 't eat at this restaurant but were awed by the bones (though the bone at the top of the hip reminded me that my mind easily goes in the gutter)

Your mom's bad hip hasn't stopped you from having those hand in hand strolls with your mom, though every time I tried snapping that pic you guys let go.

Just a couple pics today. Not enough though so thank goodness your mom got some type of photo package for the park.

We finish the day with you and Mommy prepping your trading pins for tomorrow.

Sweet dreams my son, filled with dreams of mice and ducks and princes and princesses and droids and most importantly that magic promise that the Disney future holds for you tomorrow!

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Story Is King

To my son Tommy,

I have often tried to get you to watch the shows and movies from my youth with varying degrees of success. Some you love and some you just haven't been interested in, or at least not yet. I chalked it up to the advances of animation and movie making in the family genre. I mean how can old drawn cartoons like Steamboat Willie compete with the advances of Pixar and such. Still I held hope that one day you would develop a taste for the classics; you would learn to appreciate an old black and white like Casablanca as much if not more as a newfangled movie like Avatar. And, as we sit here and watch Pinocchio and I see the uttermost amazement and see in your eyes, I realize that you have turned a page in your life where substance matters and story is king.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Promise

To my son Tommy,

In every rainbow there is an unspoken promise, a promise that you will make it through the storm. We need that. I need that. I need that reminder. Of course it was sent to Randallstown following a pretty serious hail storm. Always a bit of give and take, good and bad, yin and yang, to every promise.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Anxious

To my son Tommy,

I wonder if human beings are the only creature that thinks about the future with worry and dread. I wonder if we are the only creation that so fears the unknowns the future holds that it actively consumes the present. It is easy to say to live in the moment, and up until this point I have tempered or completely ignored my anxiousness about your grandpa's surgery today. But the moment is upon us and your Grandpa Leo is being prepped for his second craniotomy. The car ride in, the talk between a father and son of what to do in case the worst happens, is very sobering and knocked down all walls I had put up to suppress that anxious concern. So I turn to prayer and ask you to do the same. 

Dear God, Please come into the heart, hands, and minds of the surgeon and all of my father's caregivers today so they can be tools of Your will and deliver Your healing mercy. Thy will be done. I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Tonsils

To my son Tommy,

Ice cream! Having your tonsils and adenoids removed is a great test on how you approach life. It is easy to look with dread on the pain of surgery and recovery. But instead focus on the amount of ice cream you are going to eat to keep down the swelling and the two or three weeks of watching movies while cuddling with Mommy!

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

Lazy Sunday

To my son Tommy,

Your Grandparents are at 10:30 Mass. Your mom is in bed recovering. Your Nana Jeanne is watching QVC or something of the like. Your Great Uncle Kevin is out at the grocery store.You are wearing a rediscovered "daddy" hat  as you are jamming to Disney toons on your boom box (do they still call it a boom box?) in your room while you study Lego  manuals quite intently. I am stuck watching the Muppets because you put it on the TV and then left. The remote is about ten foot away, so I am channeling the pure essence of laziness. If you come out of your room, I will ask you to get it for me. My sloth knows no shame. Anyways, a bit of normal in what is normally anything but a normal existence. I will take it when I can get it.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo