I went to Disneyland twice this past week. If you’re a reader of this blog, or if you know me even a tiny bit, you know how much I love Disneyland.
I’ve been thinking about the reasons for that love – is it a reminder of some childhood that
I didn’t have? Is it the smell of the water in Pirates of the Caribbean? Is it the warm, tasty beignets in New Orleans Square? 
Is it the look on a kid’s face when she sees Goofy for the first time? Is it soarin’ over the Golden Gate Bridge?
I wanted to know so I began a serious look into why I really love going to Disneyland, time and time again.
What I’ve come up with is that Walt Disney believed in magic. You know the kind of magic I’m talking about – large cartoon characters up close and personal, standing on the corner, where you, too, can go have your photo taken with them. Magic that transforms a dreary, bleary day, rain or shine, into an adventure with Tom Sawyer over on “his” island. Magic that transports us right into outer space along with the Wookies and a few of our favorite friends. Magic that allows us to believe that anything is possible and that everything is right there at our fingertips.
On any given day, that magic is available to each of us, whether we actually go through that Mickey Mouse gate or not. Magic is in the ducks swimming in the pond that you walk by every morning; it’s in the clouds that scatter above us as we’re heading into Albertson’s to buy some eggs; it’s in the face of every person we encounter as we go about our day’s tasks; it’s in the rows and rows of library books; it’s in the carefully landscaped plantings next to the McDonald’s we’re heading into to get lunch (or that same Mickey D’s we’re passing by as we go into Whole Foods to get some organic bananas and yogurt).
Magic is there for all of us…. just pick some up as you pass by it on your way to somewhere else! Oh, and bring some home for me, too….