The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Forget the winter solstice. Today is going to be the longest day of the year for me.

Let me explain – and I assure you that before long you will say “Ooooh – one of THOSE days.”

For kids, it’s the day before their birthday and/or Christmas eve.
For CPAs, it’s April 14.
For football fans, it’s Superbowl Saturday.
For drunken adults, it’s December 30.

It’s that Day Before Syndrome. The day before something very cool/exciting/special is supposed to happen. And today is mine.

You see, today is the last day I have to work before vacation. Technically we’re not leaving until after the Lovely Mrs. G. gets home from work tomorrow evening (I’m taking the day off to wrap up the last of my college classes for the semester), and our plane doesn’t leave until 6:00 AM Thursday, but this is the last shift I need to sit at work and daydream. By this time Friday it’ll all be a Walt Disney World reality.

I’ve commented about this before, but it bears repeating. I’m a huge Disney fan, and I’m not afraid to admit it. If I intend on remaining young forever and never growing up, I can’t think of a better way to do it. Uncle Walt’s company has brought me a lot of happiness over the years, and the 4.5 years I spent working for The Mouse was indeed magical.

It’s been almost 6 years since the Lovely Mrs. G. and I have been to WDW, but I fully intend on making up for lost time. We’ve got 8 day park passes, a decent pair of running shoes, and enough caffeine tablets to keep us going from sunrise until well after dark.

Okay, it won’t be that fast paced. I’ve promised Mrs. G. that I’ll reign in my “Commando” park attack method a little bit. She doubts that I’ll be able to do it – she calls me the Disney Nazi – but I’m certainly going to try to lower my excitement eagerness level to a mere rapid boil.

Okay, at least I’ll try. But if you do happen to be in Orlando over the next week and see a grown man strapped into one of those toddler leash getups, you’ll know why.

In the meantime, can I make it through the next 8+ hours of work without going insane? We’ll see. I have plenty to do today, so there ought to be enough distractions to keep my mind off the clock.

But at 5:00.01 all you’ll see of dear ol’ Tommy is a trail of dust. It’ll be just like the commercial:

“Tom Gressel – you and your lovely bride have just won a free pass away from work for a week and half. What are you going to do next?”

I think we all know the answer...