Want to be Wherever You Are

Disney on Ice at the Coliseum — my oldest child, our six-year-old daughter, could not have been more excited. It was February, and the arena still smelled like livestock sweat and cow poop after the National Western Stock Show was held there a month prior, but she didn’t notice. Neither did her younger brothers who were only excited because their fearless leader, Cathryn, was bouncing off the walls.

We took our seats in the second-to-the-last row of the enormous venue. My wife knew I was cheap, but she didn’t realize leaving me to buy the tickets meant she should bring binoculars so we could see the skating. When Princess Ariel (my personal favorite by the way — who knew a mermaid could lace up ice skates?) asked for a volunteer from the crowd, Cathryn leapt from her seat and screamed while jumping up and down with her hand raised high. It reminded me of Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter.

We were so far from the ice that poor Cathryn had less than a 0% chance of being chosen. The entire show would have been over before she could have made her way down to the frozen stage. But she didn’t know that. She was in heaven. As a father, that should have been a proud moment of spending very special family time and bringing joy to my children.

But it wasn’t. Our adventure at Disney on Ice was over a decade ago, but I distinctly remember wishing for the…