Well now that I’m back home and back to my normal routine, I am also back to using my writing prompts for mom’s book that was a present. The next question in that book is – Mom, what were some of the best presents you ever received when you were a kid?
I had to think about this question a lot. And I don’t mean for a couple of minutes either. This took at least a days worth of thinking. I was trying to remember what presents I received as a kid that I loved. Didn’t matter if it was my birthday or Christmas. I was having trouble remembering. Maybe it’s old age hahaha, or maybe most of the presents weren’t that memorable, who knows. What I do know is I needed to come up with an answer for this blog.
From some pictures that I have of me growing up I can remember a few things that I loved. Like a sweater that was given to me by my aunt or a teddy bear calendar from my parents. I imagine there were other pieces of clothing that I loved. And I remember getting a pair of boots from my parents that I wore every winter from that one Christmas until the day they started to come apart. Of course any thing having to do with teddy bears I would have loved and still do.
But when it comes right down to it the present that I remember so clearly, the present that was a surprise for me was during the summer of 1977. That was the year my parents and two great aunts surprised me with a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. That was also my first time on a plane. What an amazing surprise that was too! I couldn’t believe I was going to Disney with my family.
We had so much fun that week. We went on as many rides as we could. I remember the castle or what I think was the castle. There was an indoor ride that took some time going around and I remember sitting with my dad on that ride. And I remember the song It’s A Small World playing. We had such a good time on that ride. I don’t remember all the rides we went on, but that one was very memorable. Then there was the Disney parade that was held at night. I remember that being spectacular. Since I was seven at the time I couldn’t see past any adults head, so my mom had me stand in the front of the crowd and kept a good watch over me. Every once in a while she asked me if I was tired. My answer was always no.
I remember we stayed at some hotel there. I also remember one afternoon eating subs for lunch in that hotel room while we watched TV. I remember the news was on and we were all casually listening to it until a major news announcement came on and we all stopped eating. We heard the news anchor say “Elvis Presley has died”. We were all shocked. We watched the news coverage for a few minutes and then went back to eating. However with Elvis being my favorite actor at the time I was the only person in that room who wanted to cry over the sad news. I didn’t, but I wanted to. That news made for a sad rest of the day for me. Overall Disney was a great birthday present with that one sad exception. It’s certainly one present I will always remember good and bad.
Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. If you would like to read more about her time at Disney World you can read about it in her book Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate