So here’s the thing. No one really gets me. There are people who come close, who know me very, very well, mostly my immediate family, and close friend. However, even they, like most people, don’t know, and don’t really understand everything that really goes on in my head & the way it works. Hell, even I don’t understand myself all the time. Now, I don’t say this to be all angsty, or “emo” as I’m told the kids say now-a-days. I’m just, well, different, and I don’t say that to “blow my own horn” or sound like I’m all trumped up. It’s just the way things are. I’m used to it. I recently saw the new Disney movie Frozen and one of the main characters, Elsa, has a song called Let it Go. I’ve decided it is my new theme song. It’s all about letting go of holding in who you truly are because of fear and to just be yourself and see what your gifts can do when they’re set free. Sometimes it’s hard to be different. Sometimes I’m proud to be different, but I keep that to myself so I don’t some off as snobby. Though, a lot of the time people mistake my silence for snobbery anyway. I assure you that’s not what it is. That’s me not wanting to say something stupid or put my foot in my mouth, which, I’m actually very good at doing. So, I don’t talk much. I write.
I’m a writer. No, I don’t have anything published, but if you could spend even an hour in my head you’d know how true it is. I am a writer. I think differently. I see things others don’t. I think in story. That’s the only way I know how to describe it. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I’m doing, or not doing, I am thinking of how it would be written. I think of the adjectives I would use to describe what is going on and how I would use words to create the scene, the smells, the sights, the feel of that moment in time, how I would use words to make people see it, feel it the same way I do. For example, this evening as I was driving to see an advanced screening of Saving Mr. Banks (more on that later), I could hardly peel my eyes away from the amazing sunset. The warm colors covered the sky as the sun sank, looking like a cliché cowboy movie ending, and the clouds blazed in brilliant streaks that reflected the colors even more brightly. It was something you had to see for yourself, something that no picture could do justice. I watched that sunset as best I could and I just smiled, widely. I just felt pure joy and I thanked God for it. I just had this overwhelming feeling that everything would be okay, not that there’s really anything wrong with my life, but that’s the feeling that came over me. It was like a picture message from God saying, “Hey, remember, I got this. Everything is gonna be okay.” Do you see a sunset and think all that? Maybe, maybe not, maybe you get that feeling, but I’m sure you didn’t think out that whole description. So you see my point?
I’m a writer. No, I don’t have anything published, but if you could spend even an hour in my head you’d know how true it is. I am a writer. I think differently. I see things others don’t. I think in story. That’s the only way I know how to describe it. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I’m doing, or not doing, I am thinking of how it would be written. I think of the adjectives I would use to describe what is going on and how I would use words to create the scene, the smells, the sights, the feel of that moment in time, how I would use words to make people see it, feel it the same way I do. For example, this evening as I was driving to see an advanced screening of Saving Mr. Banks (more on that later), I could hardly peel my eyes away from the amazing sunset. The warm colors covered the sky as the sun sank, looking like a cliché cowboy movie ending, and the clouds blazed in brilliant streaks that reflected the colors even more brightly. It was something you had to see for yourself, something that no picture could do justice. I watched that sunset as best I could and I just smiled, widely. I just felt pure joy and I thanked God for it. I just had this overwhelming feeling that everything would be okay, not that there’s really anything wrong with my life, but that’s the feeling that came over me. It was like a picture message from God saying, “Hey, remember, I got this. Everything is gonna be okay.” Do you see a sunset and think all that? Maybe, maybe not, maybe you get that feeling, but I’m sure you didn’t think out that whole description. So you see my point?
So what does all this have to do with Disney and Mickey Mouse? Well, I’m working up to that. First off, let me start by saying that my very first trip to a Disney park was in 1982, only eight months after I was born, to Walt Disney World in Florida. You could say that the obsession was born in me then, just from the exposure at a young age. It’s more than that though, it’s the spirit behind it all, the whole Disney franchise, a spirit that came from Walt Disney himself, and is channeled through Mickey Mouse to this day. Mickey is not just a silly cartoon mouse. Walt Disney is quoted as saying, “The life and ventures of Mickey Mouse have been closely bound up with my own personal and professional life… Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence… a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it's because he's so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.” Mickey is not perfect. Mickey is plucky and resourceful. Mickey really always does the best he can. Mickey doesn’t let too much get him down and when it does, he doesn’t stay down. Most importantly, to me anyway, is that Mickey always comes out on top (For the best example of this, go to Disneyland and watch Fantasmic). Mickey represents hope. Everyone wants hope, so everyone can relate to Mickey Mouse. That hope is carried through not just in Mickey Mouse cartoons, but in all their movies and theme parks. Walt Disney didn’t want the outside world to be seen by his guests. He wanted them to forget their worries from the outside if even for a day, to create an escape. That’s why they’re so loved by so many people all around the world. It’s a universal thing, and I feel the same as all the other. But, let me tell you the real reason I love Mickey and all things Disney… because it all makes me feel like I belong, like I’m less different, less odd. I don’t just enjoy all things Disney because I like the stories or the parks. I understand the kind of thinking that went into them, because I think in a lot of the same ways. Imagination is the medium I work with too. I get them, and though I can’t meet Mickey Mouse or Walt Disney because one isn’t real and the other passed away years before I was born… I know in my heart that they would get me too.
Last night I saw an advanced screening of Saving Mr. Banks. It was everything I wanted it to be. It was everything it should have been. If you had asked me before this movie who I thought should have been chosen to play Walt Disney, Tom Hanks would have never crossed my mind. However, after seeing the commercials, and now the movie, I can’t imagine anyone else in the role. I also can’t believe that it took until 2013 to see Walt Disney portrayed in a film. I didn’t know much about Mrs. Travers before the movie, but Emma Thompson is equally brilliant and the two of them together are just perfect. I laughed, I cried, of course I cried; I was all weepy just from the commercials! I loved the details they put in the movie like how the way the Sherman brothers came up with the idea for “A Spoonful of Sugar” was after one of their kids had a vaccination day in school and they put the medicine in a cube of sugar. There were a bunch of other little tidbits and “inside jokes” for those who know what they’re looking for, but I won’t ruin it for you. The best part for me was a quote from Tom Hanks as Walt. If it’s a real Walt quote, I don’t know, probably not. He says to Emma Thompson’s P. L. Travers, “That’s what storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again.” That is the goal of my life summed up in a sentence. I write to escape. I write to create a world where things happen the way they should, even when they don’t in real life. I write to give people hope. At least, that’s my hope, and that’s why I love Mickey Mouse.
Today is Walt Disney's birthday. My suggestion to you if you'd like to sort of honor his spirit? Get in touch with your inner child today. Look at the world through different eye if you can. Do something fun! For example, go fly a kite!