The pictures always look great. My daughter smiling ear to ear standing next to her princesses. What the pictures don’t show however is all that it took to get there.
Our princess visits have become a thing now. Just as some people follow a band or a comedian we follow Disney princesses. Our day usually starts around 5:30 a.m. with Kelsey asking if it’s princess day. Then comes the big question, “When are we going.” My answer, after lunch. About 20 mins later I hear, “Can I have lunch?” No it’s still morning, you can’t have lunch. “But you said we are going after lunch.” 2:00, we are going at 2:00.
From that point on I’ll hear the same question asked every 5 or 10 minutes (I kid you not), “Is it 2:00? We are going to miss it.” Kelsey doesn’t understand time on a clock. If she looks at a clock and it says 7:00 she has no sense of how long it is until 2:00. I wonder what it must be like living on an internal clock. Not sure if I could do it.
And now the time has come. It’s 2:00 and we are on our way. Now the question changes to, “Do you know the way? We are going to miss it.” Yes I know the way. We are not going to miss it. We are going early. “But you said we were going at 2:00.” Yes it’s 2:00 and we are going early. “Do you know the way? We are going to miss it.”
We made it to see the princesses on time and we knew the way. And know comes the waiting in line part. Waiting in line comes naturally to most of us. We don’t like it but we understand the unspoken rules. We know to follow the person in front of us.There is tape on the floor so the line can form a queue. We know it’s there to guide us. We know it’s okay to step on the tape. We know it’s okay to step outside of the tape for a moment. We are in a line. We are all going to the same place. These things don’t come naturally to Kelsey.
Our wait is 30 minutes. There are a lot of people in front of us and behind us. Now the question becomes, “Is this the right line? We are going to miss it. Why are you moving? Stand still. Turn around. We are going to loose our spot. It’s too noisy. Stop talking. Don’t step on the tape. Move up.” I explain that I can’t move up because there are people in front of us. We have to follow them. “But they stepped over the tape.” I respond with, “It’s okay. We are all going to see the princesses.”
Finally after an endless wait of trying to explain the tape on the floor, we are next in line. We are face to face with a princess. She stands still in her tracks. I hold my breadth and wait for her to get the courage to take just two more steps. She does and suddenly all of the stress that it took to get there is forgotten. She spends a minute or two talking to them and then they pose for the picture. The picture that always comes out great. The picture that shows no signs that we we’ve been up since 5:30 a.m. waiting to get here. It’s just a picture of a girl smiling from ear to ear standing next to her princess. And then we are on our way home.
A two minute picture with a princess has taken us all day. Kelsey always goes to bed early on princess days. They are exhausting. Will we do it all over again? Yes. The princess magic is worth it. As for myself I’m exhausted too. I’ll lay down, close my eyes and have visions of that tape on the floor.
Princesses and Predictability 