They change us, transform our personal style and fill our world with color

Does everyone remember the Hannah Montana phenomena that rocked the nation 3+ years back? It all happened right before I had kids and I looked in utter amazement as parents went to INSANE lengths to get tickets for their daughters. Honestly I didn't understand it and thought these parents must have been completely out of their minds, the prices for tickets ran into the thousands of dollars and the venue's sold out!

Here's a few stories of my friends who have done crazy and life transformation things for their kids:

- Recently I watched a pastor's wife drive all night from Louisiana to Orlando just to surprise her 6 or 7 year old daughter at Disney World the next day. She told her they were going to see the grandparents so the girl would be completely and totally surprised. She drove ALL night AND then walked the park all day. Insanity? Yeah I think so!!! Love her dearly but wow, that's a level of dedication that's seriously pushing some levels.

- A mom of 4 girls sends this story.

"Bought a teenage mutant ninja turtle at a garage sale for my 4 year old one morning. Went to the beach and on the ride home she asked for the other turtle that we did not buy. Tired and sandy, we drove 30 min out of the way, knocked on their door, and asked if we could dig through their things to find the other turtle! Even though it was 5:00pm, and a super strange request, they did not charge us for the toy! Love having kids!"

- My 1st employee, of 10+ years ago was hired right out of college and she wore all black, every day. Black nail polish, black hair, Hot Topic kind of girl. Here is her story after having 2 girls, 3rd on the way!

"One thing i used to scoff at and vowed i would NEVER do if i had girls was the whole disney princess thing. yea, was i wrong. we have princesses everywhere. also, you know how i felt about pink and froo-froo, well my husband just painted the girls bedroom a shade of pink called "princess pink." i never thought i would be one of those moms, but i caved after number three and just surrendered to the pink and ruffles. i think you understand how dramatic that is knowing how i was just a few years ago"

And now my story -
We spent 2 days in Orlando this week, day 1 at Sea World and day 2 we promised to see Mickey and Stitch. The only problem, I'm 32 weeks pregnant and was too exhausted from the first park day to do a 2nd day at Disney. Even Charlotte was complaining of her knees hurting. I knew we would be miserable to do a 2nd park day. So I found a park resort that hosted "Character Breakfasts" with Lilo & Stitch! Packed the family up 2nd morning, had an extremely stressful ride trying to find the place - is it just me or does Disney need more signage - only to arrive and find they were fully booked for breakfast!

Fully Booked???

I can honestly say I've never felt more shocked in my life! I wanted to beg the guy to just let us squeeze in somewhere! Anything, just let us meet the characters so I don't disappoint my little girl!

We waited a half hour for the 2nd breakfast cafe (without characters) to open a space for us and I spent the entire time plotting our next trip to Orlando where we would have everything planned meticulously WITH reservations. During this time Charlotte cheerfully played in the lobby and layered four Hawaiian flower lei's around my neck.

In hindsight, it's somewhat amusing to see how little it takes to entertain a 3 year old, she really was quite happy just playing in the lobby and I was miserable. I can't explain this maddening desire to make things fantastic for my children but I certainly can no longer judge the lengths a parent will go to for tickets to a special show or completely transform ones style.

I also had a proclivity towards black and look at my little darling now! She's dressed herself and perched on the couch with a pony.