Super Soldier: Disneyland Part 2

Hi!

I started this one a while ago too and am just now finishing.  Thanks for your patience!

Disneyland part 2.....

Jason LOVED the rollar coasters at Disneyland.  One of his favorites was Big Thunder Mountain.  Since we rode this so many times, I got a good look at some of the names of the trains:

I. M. Brave

I.M. Fearless

U. B. Courageous

It seemed really appropriate that this was Jason's favorite ride, since he is all of those things :)

We also stopped at a pretty sweet 'gas station':

This is "Oswald's".  The slogan is "Service with a Smile".

Oswald is (aside from Mickey Mouse of course) my favorite Disney character.  Oswald was Walt's first creation.  Walt only had Oswald for a few years.  When he and Ub Iwerks were pushed out of Universal, they lost their entire animating staff and Oswald.  Walt was devastated.  

It would be almost 80 years before Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was reclaimed by the Disney family in 2006.  In the meantime, you could say Disney did ok for himself.   

This legacy of perseverance shows in all of Disney's films, cartoons and most of their characters.  Disney characters aren't without flaws.  Mickey Mouse is clumsy and frequently gets into trouble through nobody's fault but his own.  Oswald is much the same and has a bit of a grumpy streak.  And neither of them are really that lucky.  But they always keep trying.  

They are heros:

A little Goofy:

And they do scary things:

    *The tower of terror, not for wimps

Sounds a little familiar eh?

People have asked both Jason and my parents how they keep going, what's the secret?  They always respond: how could we not?  Sometimes you hunker down and rest for a minute, but you never give up.

Time will pass no matter what, but ultimately we are the ones in control of how that time passes.  It's up to us to decide how we treat others and where our lives are going to go.  We can't always control what life throws at us, but we can control how we respond.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" -Walt Disney

I was really impressed during out trip at how kind everyone was to Jason.  We used his wheelchair the whole trip because Jason was still really weak at that point.  The staff at Disneyland never missed a beat, and Jason was able to enjoy the trip just as much as he would have if he'd never gotten sick.  We had help wherever we went.  We really were surrounded by "service with a smile".

I suppose that's what I appreciated the most about our trip.  No one treated Jason like he was in a wheelchair and on a feeding tube.  He was just another person on vacation.  How beautiful a world it would be if we could all see past each other's outside appearances.  How much kinder would we be to each other if we could really see the struggles we are all facing?  If we could all remember that everyone is someone's son or daughter, father or mother, sister or brother.

On the outside, we may be small like a mouse or unlucky like a rabbit.  People might only see our scars and weaknesses.  But on the inside we all look a little more like this:

    Jason Franke, super soldier :)

If there's one thing I hope everyone reading this blog can take away from Jason's Journey, it's to never give up.  You are worth it!  You are not your trials and weaknesses.  You are writing your own story; you can't control all the plot twists but you do get to control how you respond to them!  We were made to act, not to be acted upon.

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Jason's health is still improving, he is finally healthy enough to be getting back in the saddle this Saturday!  I'll post pictures after his lesson.

This is your before pic, watch for the after :)

Top of the muffin to yah!

-LeAnne