If you know me you had to know this one was coming. So y’all know from the moment we booked this, I had every intention of recreating my original castle pic tween style. I did, it was great, check! In fact this is not it, this is not the pic I intended to share or even remember taking, honestly, but as I loaded the pics this shot gutted me, this shot broke my heart & made my dreams come true all at once! The unintentional symbolism & irony in this hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe it is the fact that the castle is further away, smaller in scale & more blurry. Or that its low light bc they are older now & we easily stayed up from park open to close each night. Or maybe its that they were facing away from me….together…., as if they are looking back at the childhood magic we filled their days with. This one image hit me hard, y’all! 

Is it possible to absolutely love & hate an image at the same time? 

Because for me, this one image managed to capture the progression of childhood & the realization that we can’t push the pause button on life. Ill fully admit we had a damn good time, but it just didn’t have that same magic & I knew recreating that pic would be difficult, I just didn’t expect to get one that meant so much more.This pic reminds me that at this point we are making memories together, making memories WITH them now, not FOR them. It’s no longer about watching & capturing their reactions, its about being a part of the moment. These are the times they will actually remember & look back on when when I am long gone & hopefully want to recreate with their own babies. Watching your children grow up is the most beautiful heartache I’ll forever be grateful to feel.

As a young mom, some stranger shared this advice with me and I pass it on to you…you have to go to Disney twice in your life, once when your kids are little for YOU & once when they are older for THEM. Guess my next time will be with them & their babies.

You can see all of our old Disney Posts here