The one with the buns…
From somewhere close by me I heard a small voice say. “I like your hair…” I turned my head and looked down to find the source of the sweet little voice. There was a young girl about 4 years old standing next to us. She had her hair braided in a special braid that criss-crossed across her head, braided into the back was bright red hair just like Ariel. I smiled and told her I liked her hair too! We were standing at the train station at New Orleans Square. It was late, the platform was full of tired park goers waiting anxiously for the last train of the night.
She continued to tell me that she got her hair done at the princess salon. I explained that my hair was like this because we went to a Halloween costume party and I was dressing up like one of my favorite princesses. I asked her who her favorite princess was, of course she said Ariel. I could tell her mom was grateful for someone to distract her while they waited for the train. The girl and I continued to chat. “My grandma had pretty hair like yours but it all falled off.” I met eyes with her mom who looked back with tears. The mom said, “My mom has cancer, she just finished her second round of chemotherapy. It was traumatic for her to see her lose her hair.” I let her know I was so sorry to hear that and asked how she was doing now.
The mom shared that things look hopeful and I let her know that we’d be thinking healing thoughts for her. If you’re reading this now, I hope you take a moment to think healing thoughts for their grandma and family too! We chatted for ten more minutes about her baby brother, her favorite rides in the park and then I asked her mom if I could offer her some of my candy we had collected from the candy trails at Oogie Boogie Bash. Her choices were so thoughtful, there was tons of candy but also rice crispy treats, gold fish crackers, and craisins. She took one of each of the non-candy options and exclaimed excitedly, “This is so lucky! I just ran out of my goldfish in my park bag!” As we giggled and chatted her mother let me know she does not typically talk to people like this. She said I must have a great aura or something. While that is flattering I let her know I had been a preschool teacher and daycare owner for many years teaching children exactly her age. ;) That conversation was so sweet and it seemed like it was really needed.
We traveled 1200 miles to Anaheim, CA to meet the Sanderson Sisters and experience an exclusive after hours event at Disneyland California Adventure. We were really excited to have an epic night partying in Disney California Adventure dressed as Princess Leia and Han Solo. We were ready to close the park after watching the parade, eating snacks we probably shouldn’t and riding rides back-to-back in the super short lines until we were too sick to take another spin, dip or drop.
Instead, we stood in line waiting to meet the Sanderson Sisters for 70% of the event. We only met two out of three of the sisters and the photo pass team did not seem to be feelin’ it that night either. We were not able to get any of the event snacks and did not catch the parade due to the insane amount of back tracking that it would have taken to maneuver the rope maze created to prepare the parade route.
Moments before that sweet little girl complimented my hair, we were saying we were disappointed that we had spent money and time going to Oogie Boogie Bash. It felt like we had paid to be part the entertainment. Honestly, we were a bit sour and bailed on the night at DCA early. We decided to take advantage of being in costumes that could technically pass as Disney bounding, plus our park hopper tickets from that day and go back to Galaxies Edge to get some bucket list photos together. The encounter with that young girl and her mother would not have happened if we had not gone to Oogie Boogie Bash. I’m grateful that our night at Oogie Boogie Bash did not go as planned. I’ll treasure that bitter sweet night and its memories forever.