The morning after

I’m in a bit of a fog this morning. Between yesterday’s physical exertion coupled with the mental roller coaster of our loss, and the late night, I didn’t sleep well.

I’m wearing the silver medal today. Again, I’d prefer it in a different color, but hey, I earned this thing, and it’s not like I have another medal to wear like most of the other VM guys do.

Becky, Brandon, Benjamin and I are meeting Bob & Linda for breakfast at Molly’s Kitchen, one of the hotel restaurants. I’ve had a couple of days of cereal bars for my morning meal, and I think I need something more substantial today. I order freshly-squeezed orange juice, that tastes delicious, and a breakfast skillet with eggs, sausage, and potatoes. It hits the spot.

I... am still kind of at a loss (heh) mentally. This trip, while including vacation and other fun activities, was centered around the contest – around the gold medal – and the outcome was not what we expected. I’m really trying to be cheerful and upbeat, but it’s taking a lot of effort.

And even though I’m almost spent physically and emotionally, later today the VM still has a show to do – with the Masters and Ambassadors. I can already tell it’s going to require extra effort for me to be “up” for that.

Over breakfast, we discuss our plans for tomorrow, when we first go to Disneyland. We have 11:10 reservations for all ten of our family members at Goofy’s Kitchen, a character brunch located at the Disneyland Hotel.

That reservation poses a bit of a logistics issue – how to get us all there. The ART, the Anaheim Resort Transit, only stops at the east side of the Disneyland property, not at any of the Disney hotels, and the Disneyland Hotel is on the far west side of the property.

My parents do have their minivan here, of course, but it only seats six at a time. The plan has been for us to go to the church service offered by the Society at the Hilton tomorrow morning (if I can summon the energy for it), and then be driven to the Disneyland Hotel in two trips by my dad. But Bob tells me of an alternative plan, one that Linda came up with.

Her idea is to actually go to Disneyland early – take the ART there – shortly after the park opens at 8:00, and enjoy what we attractions we can before our character meal. Then around 10:30 we’ll go to Tomorrowland, get on the monorail, and take it to its Downtown Disney stop. Then we'll only be a short walk from the Disneyland Hotel.

It’s a brilliant idea – it solves the problem of getting us to our reservation, and at the same time kick-starts the Disney part of our vacation. I’ll miss going to the church service, but I didn’t know if I would have made that anyway.

The thought of hitting Disneyland early tomorrow legitimately cheers me up, and for the first time since last night my smile is genuine. This’ll be fun! Thanks, Linda!