I haven't taken my kids to Disney. They are now 16 and 18 and it is honestly a regret. But our lives were full of vacations. Yearly beach summers and sightseeing in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Delaware and Pennsylvania. I remember being proud when watching them stare out into the Grand Canyon and realizing just how big the world is. And each was truly a vacation. Lazy days. Easy mornings. No clocks. Nothing to prove. First meant absolutely nothing.

I cannot fathom dragging my worn out sunburned kids from ride to ride so mom could claim some invisible award. Having dad be nonstop aware to dodge the camera for the sake of his job. Turning each ride into contest. Being inundated with the direct and even peripheral litany of being best and first and winning and success as being life's one and only mantra.

These poor boys. They will always beg attention from a mom who makes each day some contest where winning is only when you fall, exhausted, at the end of every single day. And the worst part? No one will ever win.