This is a picture of my daughter when she was 5 years old and I took her to Disney World where she got to be a Princess for several days and meet Mickey Mouse who spun her around before I took this picture and Mickey helped her to feel like a Real Princess! It was one of my favorite memories with my daughter when she was growing up!
It brought me back to my own childhood when I remember as a child getting so excited every Sunday evening waiting for the Walt Disney show to come on. Tinkerbell flying across the sky and sprinkling pixie dust all around, the Disney Castle in the background and the next enchanting tale that I would be able to see that would transport me to a magical place where life was good, and wholesome and beautiful…there was always a plot, with challenges and sinister people but the outcome was always a triumph of good over evil, peace over pain, and happiness at the end of a struggle! Deep down, for me, that show was my inspiration and guiding faith that no matter what happened in day to day life, there was always a decent outcome and the challenges were all worthwhile.
The story of Walt Disney is like that. I was surprised to learn, years later, that Walt Disney himself had many obstacles to overcome before becoming the successful artist and entrepreneur that he was. He began as a starving artist. He sought work but no one wanted to hire him; no one thought he had any talent. He went from place to place in the Midwest looking for work. It wasn’t until a minister with a barn in his back yard BELIEVED in Walt Disney and decided to hire him to do some art work for his church bulletin that Walt Disney had a beginning to his career. He offered him a place to stay in the barn. It turned out that the barn was full of mice and Walt Disney decided to draw some of the mice that he saw running around in the barn…and one of those mice was the Birth of Mickey Mouse!
Our health can be like that. As a parent, if there is one thing I know for sure in the United States, many parents work really, really hard every day to give their children a better life. We want the best for our children and work hard to give them a better life. Do we KNOW AND BELIEVE that we can give them a healthy life? There are many things that we can do to help our children to stay well, grow up healthfully and have a better chance at a longer, healthier life. The first step is BELIEVING that Good Health and a Longer, Healthier Life is Possible. As a Nurse who cares for patients with cancer every day, if there is one thing I know for sure, what we do to help our kids to be healthy when they are young in mind, body and spirit will serve them well and give them a Better Chance of Living a Longer, Healthier and Happier Life!! Believing, despite the challenges, is Definitely Worth It!