For the last week, I have not touched a computer. For the first time since I purchased my laptop, I took a vacation without it. My husband planned a trip for the two of us to Disneyland. We wanted to go to this place where we both have childhood memories, but have never gone together. He wanted me to celebrate my birthday there and to get away for a bit to relax. It worked….
For 5 days we spent our days as free from schedules as we could and free from any electronic connections except a cell phone. I did not even carry a purse for those days. We relaxed, we laughed, and we often found ourselves in sentimental moods. For the first day, my birthday, all seemed right in the world and as the fireworks blasted over our heads, we gave thanks for the life we have built together.
Yet reality has a way of creeping into your life when you least expect it. On our second day, it drifted into ours and I am still having problems shaking it. Standing in line for a ride, I noticed an older man with a young girl. They looked like father and daughter. How nice I thought. As the sun sweltered down upon us, the young girl laid her head on his shoulder and chest. Then she reached up and nibbled on his neck. Shock set in for a moment as I asked myself what had I just witnessed. I tried to turn away and not watch. As the line inched forward, I saw it again. She not only nibbled on his neck, but she flirted, leaned into him, touched him and then kissed him. Shaken, I turned around to my husband. When I saw his face I knew he witnessed it too.
Emotions soared and plummeted as we tried to deal with what our eyes were taking in. My husband asked if she was older than she looked. I had to answer no. She had the body of a young adolescent, not one of a late age teenager or early adult. The man looked old enough to be her father or her grandfather. He was older than the two of us and she was definitely not 18, not even 16. As we wrestled with it, the ride operator cut off the line and they moved ahead. Fighting back emotion and tears, I just kept saying, “it is not right.”
When we arrived just short of the spot to board the ride, the operator asked for a group of two. We raised our hands, but then noticed we would be placed in the same car with the man and young girl. I asked the operator to please take someone else in line. She rolled her eyes and called out for the next group of two. The man and the young girl ignored us and soon they went off on the ride. We never saw them again.
For the rest of the trip, this situation bothered us. It still haunts me. Who was this young girl and why was she so affectionate to this man? Was he indeed her father? Was he just a man she knew? How old was she? Should we have said something? What was the right thing to do?
Thanks !