I do have a story..... Had it almost done and danged it someone interrupted me at work with work!
Back in one of the late 90's trips, pre Disney Kids(DK),
the DW and I were at EPCOT. She is not a big ride person and I have been going WDW since it was only MK and it had just opened so I can skip a ride if I *** HAVE *** too.
Pre DK we would just wander here and there in the parks literally smelling the flowers.
We made our way over to one of the buildings on the east side and on the way over I got a nice photo of two butterflies doing the wild thing under a bush.
It was spring and it was the Flower and Garden Festival!
It would have been a great photo but I needed a flash which I had not brought with me....
At the time the building we walked into had a small retail area. As soon as we got into the building we noticed there was a Make A Wish family just standing to the side. The girl was in bad shape. She was sitting in a wheel chair, breathing O2, and I think she had an IV. My guess was she had liver problems at a minimum because she looked jaundiced.
She was one miserable and unhappy child. She looked so sad and uncomfortable.
DW took one look and started crying. She had to move off into the retail area to hide. I could sorta kinda hide/control the tears so I stayed around to see what was going to happen because you could tell the family was waiting.
Shortly thereafter Chip and Dale or Tigger and Pooh showed up. Can't remember which anymore but what I do remember was the look on this child's face. She went from so sad. So pained. So unhappy. To very happy and very excited. It was like turning on the light in complete darkness. Those characters flicked the switch and turned off her darkness.
A few people were around and seeing what was happening. There was NOT a dry eye in the place watching this kid finding a moment of happiness. I still tear up thinking about her.
I told the DW about this thread and the first thing she did was mention crying after seeing this little girl and what those character did for her.
That little girl left a happy/sad memory that we will carry forever.
One of my life's regrets was not being able to get photos of that child. It was too dark in the building and I did not have a flash. One good photo would have been priceless for that family and I really wish I had been able to provide it for them.
Later,
Dan