May 18, 2013: Time after Time

There is now five days of school left in the 2012-2013 school year. State testing is completed with the exception of a few makeups for kids who were absent. I have theories for almost everything and I would now like to share one of my theories with you.

Time is relative. Einstein talks about this but let me share with you my specific idea on the relativity of time. When I was a child it seemed like summer vacation was years long, not months, and each day could approach what a week feels like to me now. Today, summer vacation seems like it is seconds long and the school year feels like I wake up in the morning and it is the first day of school and I lay down at night and it is the last day of school. The point is, what percentage of your life does an hour, day or week make up. When you are a six-year-old child, a year is 1/6 of your life but at my age a year is 1/51 of my life and the older we get, a year becomes a smaller and smaller portion of our lives. For the same six-year-old child a summer break might be 1/24 of their life whereas the same summer break would be 1/204 of mine. Time is relative and depends on your perspective. As we get older, we not only have less time available to us as we close in on the end of life but that time seems to be even shorter due to the smaller portion of our longer life that it represents. Don’t waste time, get to Walt Disney World, and stay as long as you can. Even if you can’t go as often, it is cheaper and will seem more significant when each stay at WDW represents a larger fraction of your life.

Fred Shields was born in Kansas City, Missouri on this date in 1904. Shields did a lot of voice work for Disney including: Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Bambi and the Goofy shorts How to Play Golf and How to Play Baseball. Let’s honor Fred by going to the Mexico pavilion and riding the Gran Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros (formerly Rio de Tiempo). Don’t run off, we have at least one more thing to enjoy in Mexico.

Dorothea Halt Redmond was born on this day in 1910 in Los Angeles, California. Dorothea was and illustrator, production designer and imagineer. At Walt Disney World she designed Fantasyland, portions of Main Street, U.S.A. and the tile mosaic murals that tell Cinderella’s story in the walk-through of Cinderella castle. Wow, just go to The Magic Kingdom and visit any of the aforementioned areas.

Singer and television personality Perry Como was born on this day in 1912 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The RIAA awarded its first official Gold Record to Perry Como for his smash-hit single "Catch A Falling Star." In 1949 Como recorded versions of “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” and “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella and, in 1979 he narrated the Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. We’ve already mentioned Cinderella Castle today but maybe you should visit Cinderella’s Royal Table for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Quickies:

1980: Mount Saint Helens erupts in Washington State. Sixty die including Harry Truman who owned a lodge on Spirit Lake and just refused to leave. Remember when we were in the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT? The Gran Fiesta Tour goes right by a volcano during its trip and when it does it passes through The San Angel Inn. Eat some great Mexican food.

1942 or 1944: Albert Hammond was born in London, England. Great songwriter who has also had success as a performer and, besides, he has the same last name as your humble author. Hammond’s son, Albert, Jr., is a member of The Strokes.

Remember, your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true.