[Prudence]

3) favorite Disney memory

The first time I went to the park with my husband, we weren't yet engaged. He proposed on the top deck of the Mark Twain, right before the fireworks. But that's not my favorite memory.

My favorite memory comes from one of the first days of the trip as we entered the park. It wasn't first thing in the morning so we'd given up hope of making it through the throngs of kids to see any characters. We were going to go to Toontown to see Mickey later on because we wanted to make sure we got to see him. My husband adores Mickey Mouse and has since he was little. I've heard the tape recording where he's two and won't talk to the recorder until they ask him to say "Mickey."

Anyhow, as we were heading down Main Street we spied Mickey over outside the Opera House. I suggested we go see him, since I knew how much Ryan wanted to see Mickey. He declined, because he wanted it to be "special" by seeing him in Toontown -- and didn't want to be disappointed by pushy parents cutting in line and Mickey having to leave because it was break time.

But I won that "discussion" and we stood in line. And we were the last ones to see Mickey before his break. I had my picture taken with him, as did my husband. And if you look at his photo, you can almost see the eyes welling up and the lip starting to quiver.

Because after Mickey left, as we were walking down Main Street, I happened to glance over and Ryan's face was beet red and he had an odd expression. I asked if he needed to sit down, and he nodded. We sat over to the side on a bench while my husband, the former Marine, tattoos all over, absolutely bawled with joy because he had finally met his childhood hero.