This I Believe

This I Believe…Dream. Love. Laugh. Hope

            There is something to be said for Disney movies. At least that is the way my siblings and I were raised. Whenever a new Disney movie would come out on VHS, my mom would buy it and we would have family movie nights. We would eat pizza and popcorn, all of us sprawled out on the floor watching the Disney magic on our floor model TV. This quality time proved to be a saving grace to us, it kept us out of trouble and grounded in family tradition. As years went on and I reached teenage years, I found that we had gotten away from the Disney movie nights. The nights of magic, love, songs and sparkle had been replaced with nights out with friends and working at the supermarket. I missed those movie nights, those nights made me feel safe, secure and loved. So, I decided to go out and buy my favorite Disney “The Little Mermaid”; hoping to resurrect some of the childhood innocence. What one movie about a mermaid who was so desperately in love with a human taught me as a child, was now changing my outlook on life for Although I had seen this movie many times as a child, watching it now as a young adult was like seeing a totally different movie.

            After watching it several times in just one day, I started buying more of my favorite Disney classics, like Bambi, the Aristocats, Beauty & the Beast, and Pochantas; and was amazed at how differently I viewed these movies now. I saw the strength of a dream, the determination of love, the beauty of a laugh, the persistence of hope. I saw the way that I wanted to live my life every day. I saw what I wanted to be able to pass onto my future children, just as my mother had passed it down to me. I am sure my friends thought I was crazy but I didn’t care. I was determined to reach my dreams, to love hard, to continue to laugh and to push forward with hope until I couldn’t push anymore. You see in each movie, you see death, life, love, pain, hurt, anger – and throughout it all 4 words always stuck out to me – Dream. Love. Laugh. Hope.

            Now flash forward to present day, I am that same little girl who feel in love with Disney magic; except now, I have two little girls of my own that I get to share my Disney movies with. I think being a mom and watching my Disney movies is even different now than watching it when I was a teenager. Now, I am living my dream of being a mom, loving my girls more than any other thing in this world, laughing to the point of major pains in my cheeks, and hoping that I never disappoint my little ladies or my mother. I am sure to some it is crazy to think that an adult would write about Disney movies as a This I Believe essay, but it is more than Disney movies…it is about those four words – Dream. Love. Laugh. Hope. It is in those four words that I believe.