We are a traveling family, there’s no two ways about it. When the pandemic hit in March, we had a cruise and several trips already booked- all of which ended up cancelled or indefinitely postponed. We quarantined with the rest of the world throughout the summer and cautiously made our way back to the world in August and September when the schools opened up. Our story is not a new one. It is a story echoed by so many of my teaching colleagues.
But here is where the narrative changes. It has become our tradition as a family to travel to Disney World in November when schools are closed for teacher’s convention. We’ve been going since the girls were in middle school and this year, the oldest is a senior in high school. In fact, as we navigated college applications, my husband and I discussed the possibility that this would be the last November trip as a family because colleges run on a different schedule for time off.
The narrative became a conundrum. We discussed and assessed. We watched numbers rise and fall. We checked and double checked our travel insurance and state guidelines for quarantining and travel restrictions. We made plans knowing that we might have to cancel them just days before, however, in the end, we went anyway. It all came down to this- we decided we were no more at risk in Disney than we were merely being in our respective school buildings during hybrid learning.
In fact, by the time we woke up on the morning of our flight, the numbers in New Jersey were considerably higher than the numbers in Florida (and Florida had less restrictions in place). We sleepily made our way to the airport, not knowing what to expect. It was surprisingly more crowded than I thought, but at the same time, it was very orderly. Everyone, staff and travelers, adhered to wearing masks and social distancing guidelines. Armed with breakfast and an arsenal of hand sanitizer, we boarded the plane. Again, I was surprised to see how crowded it was, but again, staff and travelers wore masks, minimized movements throughout the cabin during the flight, and exited cautiously- row by row- instead of the usual throng I have experienced in the past.
Stay tuned for more specifics regarding the parks, because in this post I purely wanted to address the decision. It had become the elephant in the living room for months and as a family we expended so much time and energy on it that I would be remiss in not giving this decision it’s own post for posterity’s sake. In retrospect, I’m happy with the way we resolved our dilemma. Would I head back to Disney during the pandemic? Probably not. However, for our family, the choice to continue with this tradition went way beyond the visit to the parks. It gave us all a small sense of normalcy after the better part of a year had seen us cooped up in our houses, missing out on time with our extended family and friends. It gave us all something to look forward to- and now, it gives us something to look back on as the seemingly endless new restrictions appear daily on the news.
I hope that someday in the future when the girls have families of their own, they’ll look back on those pictures with our masks and know that we did the best we could to show them that traditions are important. I don’t think any of us will forget the severity of this pandemic, but I do hope that this small happy memory will overshadow all the memories of the missed holidays and events of 2020 in the years to come.
The empty road when entering the parks.
