the story

 "To captivate our varied and worldwide audience of all ages, the nature and treatment of the fairy tale, the legend, the myth have to be elementary, simple. Good and evil, the antagonists of all great drama in some guise, must be believably personalized. The moral ideals common to all humanity must be upheld. The victories must not be too easy. Strife to test valor is still and will always be the basic ingredient of the animated tale, as of all screen entertainments." 

~ Walt Disney   

A glimpse into the mind of a great man. Don't you love those? I find the struggle between Good and Evil fascinating as meaning could not exist if the struggle was not there. There would be no books as there would be no plot lines for them, no need for friends, for prayers, for churches, for sad movies or for places like Disneyland. While It's not that I believe that Eden wasn't actually a paradise, I know that it was and that it could have been enough, but God sees/saw/knows/has always known the power of story. He saw the need for the struggle, for  loss and victory and knew that paradise had to be lost. The singular elements of good and evil are present in every single piece and moment of your life. All of our motivations, choices, desires and dreams are determined by those two things and we fail to remember so often the fight we are in despite and because of the fact that we are in it every day.   

Today will be a good  day for me. I am going to Disneyland with my mom, meeting some dear friends to pick-up a Bridesmaid dress, having coffee and enjoying the sunshine. I am going to partake of so much good today. But as C.S. Lewis reminds us the joy I will feel today is part of The Problem of Pain - I could not feel all that I will today in it's magnitude if I couldn't compare it to times of less good, not necessarily evil times in my life though I could point to a couple events,  but times when I chose poorly (Indiana Jones) and failed to enjoy, seek, and run into the joy of good that God has created. I was told a long time ago that the most important thing in life is . . . what would you guess? I had no idea, I thought, "um, God?" - and sure that is right but only sort of. God wouldn't be important to me or the most important were it not for my Relationship with Him. The most important thing in life are relationships and I am blessed with so many.

So today I am on a quest and an easy one I think to go and enjoy some very sweet women in my life.    I am excited because today I am going to experience so much good, I am going to shower myself in the most important things in life, my friends. I think Walt really knew all of this, why else would he have created a place that is specifically designed and in fact requires relationships to enjoy? He saw the beauty in family and love and couldn't stop from just telling the stories in his films, he had to create a place that provides all of us with our own stories. That is so good.  

So thanks Walt, I don't think I could ever tell you how much the park and everything you filled it with means to me.  

"Here we go!"   

molly  

**and in case you were wondering, Disney references are in pink in part to honor the castle but also because pink is probably the most prominent color on Main Street, USA. You should go soon to see for yourself - there I just found your next excuse to go. You are so welcome!   

{pictures to follow!}

whirling

 Just so everyone of you knows, Disneyland is absolutely perfect right now. I went yesterday and was overwhelmed by the beauty, richness and vibrant tradition that seemed to magically and seamlessly permeate every inch of Main Street - my favorite place in the park. Just the visual experience was intoxicating and caught the rest of my senses in a tremulous, frenzied effort of trying to see and capture every speck of my surroundings. From the towering, glittering tree to the tiny ornaments within the warmly lit shops I could hardly restrain myself from grabbing arm-fulls of classic Disney ornaments and stockings to take home and amaze Bryce with. Lucky man, I spared him.   

We did however, this week indulge ourselves in the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.   

I first began reading the Harry Potter books my freshman year of college and have been addicted ever since. The depths of my fandom include attending all the midnight showings that occurred after my reading of the books, enrollment in a Harry Potter class offered at CSULB - yes, it's real AND we were sorted into houses, so when I say I was in Gryffindor, I actually mean it. I also successfully converted my husband into a true Harry Potter fanatic. He re-read book 7 with me in anticipation and excitement over the new movie and he lovingly put the batteries in my holly and phoenix-feather wand so that the tip of it would light up.  

Yes, he loves me and we love Harry Potter.  

 If you haven't read the books yet, I would highly encourage you to do so. The story is so powerful, so gripping, so sad and so full of love. From the second this seventh movie started I was in tears, dreading the losses that this book encounters. - I should mention that I frequently cry in movies, but I like to think that the movies I cry in are worthy of my tears. My favorite movie is Little Women (with Winona Ryder), I watched it recently but it had been a while since my last view and for whatever sentimental reasons I spent almost the entire movie with tears pouring out of my eyes or choked up to where I couldn't speak. ANYWAY, back to Harry . . .   

The movie was fantastic, it presented the moments of heart break and emotion with such sublimity and power that it felt, or at least I reacted the same as if I were back home,sitting on my bed with candles lit around me reading the actual paper pages of the book. I loved the movie, go see it - I believe that if you have not read the books yet this movie may push you to. I know they are children's books, that they're a fad, that they are full of wizard and witches - but I promise that if you give them a chance you will encounter a story that channels the powers of good and evil with almost perfect purity and agony. It is quite simply, a fantastic story and why would anyone turn that down?   

To give you a snippet, here is one of my favorite quotes from Dumbledore,   

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"  

Now, go and think about that concept and then go and buy the books.   

molly