As the beginning of the end loomed over my head, I tried to stay positive. The end of the most eye opening vacation in my young thirteen years of life. My mom and I were on our last excursion of our vacation. We trudged through the mass of Magic Kingdom while I gripped her hand tightly in fear of people staring. She squeezed back showing she cared about how much I hated crowds. It was challenging to see with the lights dimming and the full moon above our heads. We started to settle in the throng of people surrounding our every move. It was complete darkness except for the moon lighting up the night sky. The first crackle lit up the castle from behind. Another white spark began to soar through the sky.
“Make a wish,” blares from all of the speakers. More white lights engulfing the castle.
“Wishes!” All of the sudden the sound stops. No crackles in the sky. No bangs of excitement.
A person emerges from a castle window all lit up in green.  Tinkerbell fills the darkness surrounding us. My mom squeezes my arm in thrill of her cherished event. Since the beginning of time, the fireworks have always been her favorite thing. It was mostly for the excitement of the inspiration of Jiminy Cricket that followed. I get sucked back into reality watching Tinkerbell float through the sky. More fireworks pop up in the sky spreading out into pretty blues and greens. They cackle on their way down as they turn into a fine smoke. Another bang appears and this time nothing is in the air. Jiminy Cricket was piped in through the speakers.
“Pretty, huh? I'll bet a lot of you folks don’t believe that, about a wish coming true, do ya? We'll I didn’t either. You see, the most fantastic, magical things can happen, and it all starts with a wish!” he exclaimed.
I felt the memories flush through my head. I don’t believe in wishes and they don’t come true. As a child, I wished for a lot of things and even though they were stupid at the time, its the long lasting effects that have an impact on me. When I was in fourth grade I wanted to be on the competition team at my dance studio. I pushed myself in every class to be my best self and dancer I could be. My teachers were always tearing me down with negative comments. I could see my chances of making the team start to dwindle. At that time I was so sad and angry at myself for not making it. I knew I was good enough to make it. I didn’t have the confidence in myself to accomplish anything. I started not believing in myself. In the things I was capable of. I always doubted myself. I knew when I was having a conversation with someone, I wouldn’t trust myself to let people actually get to know me.
A single tear starts to run down my face and clearly my mom notices.
“Halle honey, what’s wrong?” she said.
“Um nothing mom I’m fine,” I sop.
“Its ok to get emotional. Everything about this just makes me cry,” she swells up.
Hearing the famous when you wish, upon a star makes no difference who you are anything your heart desires will come...to...you, gave me a rush of emotions. I looked up at my mom who has tears of pure joy in her eyes. I start to tear up too. Hearing Jiminy's message reminded me I could be anything I wanted to be no matter what. Growing up, I was always told something similar to that message and it never really stuck. I thought my mom would just say she was proud of me because she was my mom and that was her job. To tell me how much she loved me, how great I am, and she loves the person I am becoming. At this moment in time, it finally clicked, I was happy with myself. Not just how I looked, the person I was becoming. I was confident in myself and finally believed in me as much as my mom did.
The grand finale of the fireworks start back up and my face beams with happiness. Watching the beautiful sparks flash through the air was worth the wait. Nothing was more beautiful than the magic of fireworks at Disney. At that point in time I realized something I haven’t even considered before. I saw it from my mother's perspective. She loved watching the fireworks just to see the pure joy on our faces. It wasn’t for personal enjoyment, it was the fact of seeing other people being happy. Watching this happen flipped a switch in my head. I could do anything I wanted, as long as I was happy.