So, there we were at Disneyland. It was the last day, and it had not gone as I’d planned. The park was now set to close in an hour, so Canon, determined to make sure the rest of the night continued to go right, insisted that we all hurry and ride the Peter Pan ride—because he knew that I was bummed that I hadn’t been able to go on it. This was all him! And he did this, even though he knew he might be sacrificing his opportunity to ride the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride one 3rd and final time.
So we raced on over there. As we were about to get in the half-an-hour long line, one of the workers saw my boot and scooter, and had us all go in through the exit, skipping the line. I about collapsed at her kindness. And I got to ride it with my two special, wonderful little dudes!
We then had plenty of time to race over and ride the Astro Blasters one last time.
As we left the ride, people were clearing out and rides were closed. As we approached Astro Orbitor, the boys lit up. “Can we ride that one real quick? If it’s open?”
They’d never ridden it before. And they hadn’t this trip yet because they’d wanted to ride it when the park was closing and my chopped-up foot was killing me and after they’d been mouthing off to me, so I hadn’t let them. But on this last day, I said, “Sure! If it’s still going.”
There was a chain across the entrance, indicating that the ride was closed. They were so disappointed, and I felt terrible, thinking, I should’ve just let them ride it the other day. How often do we come to Disneyland?
But as we walked by, we saw that there was one last group of people waiting to get on. Canon asked, “Can we try?”
I couldn’t see a reason why not.
Canon and Dexter raced through the empty line, shouting, “Wait! Wait!” in sweet voices that reminded me just how little they still are. Canon and Dexter climbed the fence, not quite to the front of the line yet because it was all the way over there, and asked the young lady operating the ride, “Can we get on?”
She told them no, sorry. The ride was closed.
My heart sank.
As she let the last group onto the ride, she realized that there were still a few empty rockets and shouted at the boys, “Okay. Come in through the exit. Hurry!”
My boys could say nothing but, “Thank you!!”
As she checked their seatbelts, they told her, “Thank you! Thank you!”
As the rockets soared through the air, my heart melted, and tears filled my eyes.
And as they left the ride, they gave her huge hugs, and told her, “Thank you! Thank you!”
On our way out, Dexter said, “She’s going to Heaven.” I agreed and told him, “Probably.”
Canon said, “I will remember her forever.”
And we left the park on Cloud 9.
All it takes to change a person’s day, a person’s vacation, a person’s heart, a person’s life, is kindness. You can set a whole world right through kindness. Kindness heals the deepest wounds. Kindness sets a broken heart right.
Whatever bitterness and pain you might be holding onto, let it go. Replace it with kindness and compassion. Only that can heal a broken world.
Where Rose Writes Very True Stories 