We were late. Late for a very important date. We had reservations at Disney’s Magic Kingdom for breakfast at the Crystal Palace where we would meet Winnie the Pooh and friends, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger. It’s one of my favorite family traditions. Perhaps it’s more important to me at this point than for my kids.  My nursery as a baby was Winnie the Pooh themed. The cartoons about the Pooh eating so much he got stuck in his doorway, the blustery day, and Pooh pretending to be a rain cloud with a blue balloon in order to get honey from a beehive played on the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights, so I’ve always loved Pooh Bear. I read the original A.A. Milne version of the stories to my daughter Riley when she was a baby, and we would rock at naptime reading those stories.  

On this morning, the bus literally pulled away while we were headed to the bus stop, so we had to wait quite a while to catch another one. By the time we got to the Magic Kingdom, through the admission lines, and walked to the restaurant, we were at least twenty minutes late. Miraculously, I hadn’t yelled at anyone in our family up to that point because we were all at fault, but I felt anxious. Mostly I worried that we might not be seated and end up being charged the high cost anyway. 

Yet when we arrived at the restaurant, we met the sweetest woman named Sammy at the check-in desk. She could’ve come right out of central casting for a fairy godmother for a Disney movie. She had white hair and glasses and wore the yellow apron and white hat as her uniform. We apologized for our tardiness and explained that we’d had a hard time catching a bus. She checked us in and told us not to worry. Then she said, “Put it behind you now. You’re going to have a fantastic day.” She could see the panic in my eyes and chose to ease my concerns. As we walked away to wait for our table to be ready, she called out in a sing-song voice, “Remember, it’s all behind you now.”  

She could’ve given us a hard time for being late. I would’ve accepted it as what we deserved for our mistake. Instead, she offered an abundance of grace. She could feel my stress but decided to ease my worry. Her advice changed my outlook and my day. I also used the same tip later when one of my kids was upset about something that had occurred. I said, “Remember what the lady told me? We’re going to put this behind us now.” 

Simple advice in some ways but Sammy gave it at the right time about a minor problem – one that could’ve hampered my entire day. So, I’m going to try and remember the mantra that Sammy, the pseudo fairy godmother, said when I feel myself pulled into worrying about a small issue that’s in the past and remember to put it behind me.