What I Did On My Summer Vacation – Day 5 – Preparing for M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

As a leading edge member of the Baby Boom generation, Walt Disney had a big impact on my childhood.  Disneyland opened July 17, 1955.  The Mickey Mouse Club TV show ran from 1955 until 1996.  Disney Movies were a staple of my childhood and were always G-Rated.  The Wonderful World of Disney was on TV every Sunday night.  A lot of guys were in love with Annette Funicello, but Haley Mills was my dream girl.  Annette Funicello passed away April 8, 2013.  Haley Mills is still going strong.

Alas, all the original Mickey Mouse Club members on TV are now social security eligible or gone on to the big Club House in the sky.  And so are there original fans – like my wife and me.  If you have 6 minutes to take a trip back in time, watch this YouTube snippet of the original Mickey Mouse Club:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hemEGjrzcnE

As my son’s family prepared to visit all four parks at Walt Disney World, my wife was feeling the effects of surgery she had on her right foot on April 13, and a left knee she severely strained on 
June 9th, just in case the foot surgery wasn’t painful enough by itself.  

On Day 5 of our vacation, our son and his family were present as the Animal Kingdom opened its doors at 8 am.  My wife and I stayed back at the resort mulling our options.  I spent the morning shopping for a rental mobility scooter for my wife.  For $21 a day, an Orlando company will deliver a mobility scooter that holds up to 300 lbs. (that’s the minimum, dear!  I know you don’t weigh that much!) and will go 10 miles at 4 mph on a single charge.  It also disassembles so it can fit in a regular vehicle.

While it sounded pretty good to me, I was outvoted 1-1.  Val was afraid she might accidentally run over someone.  Plus, with an unstable right knee, she was afraid it might buckle if she tried to ride any rides.  “It’s a Small World” might suddenly become “It’s a Wet World” if her knee buckled during the boarding process.

So she decided not to go to the Magic Kingdom the next day.  Then she took a pain pill and dozed while watching an N.C.I.S. marathon.  I headed out to do a little shopping.

New Eclipse Stamps are heat sensitive
Touch them and they lighten
Left - eclipse    Right - no eclipse

First stop – United States Post Office.  My wife had noticed on the Jeff City news that the local Post Office had sold out of the new Eclipse stamps commemorating the total eclipse that will occur in the Jefferson City area at just after 1 pm on August 21.  Though I stood in a long line, I was the only one in the Orlando Post Office asking for Eclipse stamps.  Everyone else seemed to be mailing odd sized packages and thoroughly going over all the different pricing options with one of the two clerks on duty.  I got 4 sheets of Eclipse stamps, which are heat sensitive.  Touch them and the earth lightens.  Give them a minute or two and the earth darkens just like it will at our house shortly after lunch on August 21.

Since the place we were staying was equipped with a kitchen, my next stop was Walmart for various snacks, soft drinks, Gatorade, fruit, and whatever else caught my eye.  As I neared the checkout lane, a lady with a handful of items was just behind me.  “You can go on in front of me” I said, and she quickly accepted.

After she paid for her items and was preparing to leave, she turned to me and said “Thanks again for letting me go ahead of you!”  The checkout lady glanced at me and said to her “Yeah, the older ones are always nicer.”  Then she kind of stammered and said to me “I didn’t mean you are old!” I understood.  Age is a relative thing and old age is always at least 10 years older than I am.  When my grandfather was in his 80’s he often commented how he liked to go to the nursing homes and play his saxophone for the “old folks”.  Turns out the checker was in her 40’s.  Since I have been married since she was an infant, I guess that qualifies as “older”.

J. Norman Collie, a scientist and mountain climber who died in 1942, once bravely said “Grandchildren don’t make a man feel old; it’s the knowledge that he is married to a grandmother.” 

Oddly enough, I could find no record that Mr. Collie ever married.  He died at age 83 when he caught pneumonia after falling into the lake on a fishing trip.  Good thing he was single.  A wife would have really given him hell for that.