10:30am |||Analysis|||

I am not certain if this qualifies as an object, but something that holds a great deal of meaning to me is my tattoo. It is inked behind my ear and is an outline of the beloved Disney character, Mickey Mouse. The outline is simple and black, but I cherish it dearly. Mickey Mouse is pretty much the symbol of Disney and it holds a lot of good memories of my past.
I grew up on Southern California less than an hour’s drive from Disneyland in Anaheim. When I was little, I would make at least one trip a year to the theme park. As I grew older, my visits to Disneyland increased to approximately once or twice a month. I grew up watching and experiencing Disney and Disneyland. Some of my favorite movies are Disney movies. I remember watching The Lion King so much that the film of the VHS started to warp and the pictures began to become distorted. Even now, at college, my friends and I watch Disney movies all the time.
My family has a little tradition whenever we go to Disneyland. During the fireworks show, which is absolutely amazing to watch, a couple of us will leave early to save seats near the river surrounding Tom Sawyer Island while the rest of the group goes to a restaurant in New Orleans Square to buy hot chocolate for the group. We meet up and watch the show, Fantasmic together. I have been doing this since I was a child. Every time I watch it I get such a pang of nostalgia that I simply cannot contain myself. We all sit, huddled in a group with mist sprayed lightly on our faces as scenes from famous Disney movies are displayed on the water. The thing that really gets me, though, is the music. When I hear the Fantasmic score, tears begin to form in my eyes. For some reason it holds such power over me. My heart races and I cannot help the smile that has formed from ear to ear. Every time I watch it I am awe-stricken.
I grew up in a family that placed a lot of value in being together. All of my cousins lived within driving distance from me, with the farthest being in San Diego. We were together for pretty much everything. We would spend every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s together. We would even spend whole summers between each others’ houses. We all did stupid things together and got in trouble together. The way that we were raised was to love each other and stick by our family no matter the circumstance. I know of so many families that are broken with fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins who are all estranged from each other. It saddens me, but makes me grateful to know that I will always have people who will stand by me in my life. We place a lot in making sure that we spend time with each other. Being in college has been the longest I have been separated from my family and it pains me. I am unbelievably excited to go back home and see them and go back to Disneyland during its peak season.
My tattoo makes me very nostalgic. Every time I look at it I am reminded of my childhood as well as who I am now. I think about all the good things that have come out of spending time with my family in Disneyland and how I grew up. It also reminds me that I will never grow up, not really. I will always hold this childish love of Disney and just being a kid with me forever. I hope to raise my children in the way I was raised in hopes that they will turn out like me, or even better than myself. I want to be able to take them to Disneyland and let them watch all of the classics. I want them to spend time with their cousins. I want them to be as close to their relatives as I am now. I hope that all children in America could be like this, with a smile on their face and a happy-go-lucky attitude and an innocence that that lasts forever.