Show & Tell: Leave A Legacy

One Disney story a week for Show & Tell until I've used p all my pictures! That's how I finally decided to share my Disney pics from my conference trip a few weeks ago. This idea has two advantages: 1) I won't break up the TTC/IF thoughts with Disney stuff; and my Disney trip report won't get interrupted by TTC/IF thoughts! :-) 2) Disney stories make me smile. Might as well spread those smiles out as long as possible. One guaranteed smile per week for Show & Tell sounds pretty nice to me. (I apologize in advance if you're not a Disney person and/or Disney doesn't make you smile. Feel free to share your Disney-like place in the comments!)

So, without further ado...Disney story #1.

Epcot is by far my favorite park. If I could pick only one park to go to or stay at, it would be Epcot. It seems fitting then that a picture of DH and I forever sits just beneath the gleaming Epcot golf ball, otherwise known as Spaceship Earth.

That's right, a picture. In 2004, DH and I spent our honeymoon at Disney World. And, it just so happened that Disney was doing a special promotion at Epcot called "Leave a Legacy." You could have your picture taken and added to a tile that would be placed on giant granite slabs beneath the golf ball. I know that I'm a total Disney geek, but this sounded awesome to me: Commemorate our wedding day...and be able to bring our kids back on our many future family vacations to Disney to show them Mom & Dad gloriously happy on their honeymoon at the happiest place Earth.

The "Leave a Legacy" monument had really only just begun when we were there in 2004, so it was hard to imagine what it might look like 5 years later. It was also hard to tell how the little picture of a grinning newlywed DH and his Bride Minne-eared bride would look etched in steel and attached to those giant granite slabs. I knew that one day we'd be back (I even dared to dream with kids in tow) to see our honeymoon picture on the monument.

Five years later, I got my wish (minus kids in tow, for now). Here's a view of the monument as a whole (sorry for the crappy angle, I can't find my better pic at the moment). The granite slabs line either side of the main entrance to Epcot, all the way back to Spaceship Earth.

What a joy it was to find our tile on my trip last month...to relive those memories of a somewhat more innocent, naive moment and to think of how far we've come. Though the memory of that innocence is alluring, I wouldn't trade one bit of it for the strength, love and stronger connection we have 5 years later. I didn't understand that saying "I hope today is the day you love each other the least" 5 years ago. I get it now.  And, I honestly like the people we've become better than the people that we were (nice when that happens! :-)!  Still, it's nice to know that that particularly beautiful moment has a special place at one of our favorite places. We'll always know exactly where to find and how to relive that wonderful moment in our lives!

So there, on the monument's west side, row 2, section B, panel 3, tile 10-20 reside the newlyweds frozen in time...

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to see what the rest of the class is sharing over at Mel's place!