When we think about taking vacations with our children we tend to think in the moment.
Where would they enjoy going? Will they have fun? Will they remember it?
We rarely think about the future.
We don’t think about how the vacation we’re taking today might affect them 20, 30 or even 40 years from now.
I know this because some of my most precious memories are from vacations I took with my parents when I was a child.
I was four years old when we went on our first family vacation to Walt Disney World. Back then, the Most Magical Place on Earth was different.
There was only one theme park – Magic Kingdom – and just two Disney-owned and operated resorts: Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Disney characters would land on the beach of our resort via water skis. You could sit in the front car of the monorail. The Empress Lilly in the Disney Village Marketplace was home to a Mickey Character Breakfast. And at only four years old, I was absolutely obsessed with “it’s a small world” and I couldn’t get enough of the Electric Water Pageant nighttime show.
Of course at the time, I had no idea how important those experiences would become.
I was just a kid on vacation with my family.
But that’s the thing about memories. We don’t always know when we’re making a core one that is so much more than a picture with Mickey.
Sometimes, they were life lessons.
On a drive to Florida, our Grand Caravan broke down somewhere in southern Kentucky. We found a mechanic who managed to get us back on the road in under an hour.
My dad knew that the mechanic could have easily taken advantage of our situation. We were stranded, far from home, and had little choice but to pay whatever he asked.
Instead, the mechanic was more than fair. He charged us minimal for parts and labour.
Dad thanked him profusely and promised that if he was ever driving through his part of the world again, he’d bring him a case of REAL beer.
True to his word, a year later – on another drive to Florida – Dad stopped at Duty Free, bought a 24-pack of Molson Canadian, and hand-delivered it to him.
I don’t remember everything about that trip to Florida.
But I remember that story. 
I remember my dad teaching me, without ever sitting me down for a lecture, that when someone does the right thing for you, you do the right thing for them.
Those are the memories that stay.
And my dad understood that perhaps better than anyone.
Last Christmas, at 82 years old, my dad got his 20-something-year-old neighbour to transfer some of his old 8mm film onto a flash drive.
There was footage of me chatting with Goofy as he came up the beach on his water skis.
There was footage of ”it’s a small world”.
There was footage of my first character breakfast with Mickey.
My dad gave me that flash drive for Christmas.
Think about that for a moment.
He had held onto those memories for nearly 50 years.
And then, knowing that an 8mm projector isn’t exactly something you can pick up at Walmart these days, he made sure I could watch them again.
He knew they mattered.
I didn’t know then that those videos would become even more precious just a few months later.
My father passed away this summer.
And since his passing, a flood of happy childhood memories has been playing on a loop in my mind.
The vacations.
The car rides.
The funny stories.
The little moments I hadn’t thought about in years.
Those memories have helped me cope with losing him.
And that is why I believe so strongly in making memories with your children today.
Because we tend to think of family vacations as something we’re doing for our kids right now.
We’re giving them a fun trip.
We’re giving them experiences.
We’re giving them pictures.
But we’re actually giving them so much more.
We’re giving them pieces of their childhood that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.
One day, your children will have grown.
They may find themselves sitting in the car, hearing a song that takes them back to a family vacation 30 years earlier.
They may smell oranges and suddenly remember a ride at EPCOT.
They may see a photograph of themselves standing beside Mickey Mouse and remember exactly how it felt to be that little.
And one day, when you’re no longer there to tell the stories yourself, those memories will be some of the things they have left.
When we reach the end of our lives, I don’t think any of us will wish we’d spent more time scrolling through our phones.
We’ll wish we’d spent more time with the people we love.
We’ll wish we’d gone on the trip.
We’ll wish we’d taken the picture.
We’ll wish we’d stayed to watch the fireworks.
We’ll wish we’d made more memories.
So take the vacation.
Take the picture.
Stay up late and watch the fireworks.
Ride ”it’s a small world” for the fifth time if that’s what they want.
And someday, years from now, I promise you, those moments will be some of the most precious things they own.
Make the memories now.
Because one day, they may be the very memories that carry them when you’re gone.
I know. Because mine are carrying me now.
– Christine Fiorelli
Contact Fairytale Dreams & Destinations to Begin Creating Your Memories Today!
(905) 857.3611 | 1.855.FDMAGIC
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