When You Wish Upon a Star
So year after year, we take our boys to Disney World. As they get older, our experiences change. Each visit is a new chapter, ready to be written by Jack and Carter. The pace has picked up, the stroller only holds our bags now, and we no longer carry crayons or headphones. There is a familiarity now, when we walk into the parks...sort of like visiting an old friend that you love more and more each time you visit. Yet the anticipation, excitement and novelty never go away....it only grows bigger.
On Jack’s third visit to Disney World, we were getting ready to leave the park. It had been a long, tiring, but wonderful day. We had just seen the last fireworks show, "Wishes". The beautiful images of fireworks were still in my head, as the crowd started to shuffle away. My husband took Carter to get that last funnel cake of the night. Jack and I stood in front of the castle, listening to the quiet hum of the last stragglers. He was gazing up at the sky, hoping, I think, for just one more glimpse of Tinkerbell flying above. I decided to take out my video camera...I asked Jack what his favorite part of the day was....he answered me, head still tilted back, eyes looking where the fireworks had once danced...then he paused for a moment, turned to me and said,
"You know what they say, Mama?”
“What monkey?” I said, wondering what he was thinking.
“Dreams come true."
Jack’s dreams are coming true, which means that so are ours...and as long as our boys dream, their wishes, and ours, will always come true.
This has always been our promise to Jack and Carter...that we, as a family, create memories that go far beyond the walls of therapy...
That’s what Families in Arms, Inc. hopes to do for other families who have children with Autism...Give them the means to make wonderful memories, cause after all...
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
- Winnie the Pooh
So year after year, we take our boys to Disney World. As they get older, our experiences change. Each visit is a new chapter, ready to be written by Jack and Carter. The pace has picked up, the stroller only holds our bags now, and we no longer carry crayons or headphones. There is a familiarity now, when we walk into the parks...sort of like visiting an old friend that you love more and more each time you visit. Yet the anticipation, excitement and novelty never go away....it only grows bigger.
On Jack’s third visit to Disney World, we were getting ready to leave the park. It had been a long, tiring, but wonderful day. We had just seen the last fireworks show, "Wishes". The beautiful images of fireworks were still in my head, as the crowd started to shuffle away. My husband took Carter to get that last funnel cake of the night. Jack and I stood in front of the castle, listening to the quiet hum of the last stragglers. He was gazing up at the sky, hoping, I think, for just one more glimpse of Tinkerbell flying above. I decided to take out my video camera...I asked Jack what his favorite part of the day was....he answered me, head still tilted back, eyes looking where the fireworks had once danced...then he paused for a moment, turned to me and said,
"You know what they say, Mama?”
“What monkey?” I said, wondering what he was thinking.
“Dreams come true."
Jack’s dreams are coming true, which means that so are ours...and as long as our boys dream, their wishes, and ours, will always come true.
This has always been our promise to Jack and Carter...that we, as a family, create memories that go far beyond the walls of therapy...
That’s what Families in Arms, Inc. hopes to do for other families who have children with Autism...Give them the means to make wonderful memories, cause after all...
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
- Winnie the Pooh
"With every kiss, we'll promise this: we'll light the dawn of all we wish." -Pocahontas
