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What a year it’s been. 565,600 minutes, as the song confirms. But even in the song there are only 565,000 ‘moments so dear’ which means most people get 600 less than dear moments. Stubbing a toe, 599 to go… the Wilson’s though, seem to be getting more than their fair share this year.
Not that the last few years proceeding it have been stellar but they were definitely overshooting their allotted 600 terrible moments for this year, especially when you consider what’s been going on with their found family as well as their blood one, and it is high time they did something about it.
2025 is in full swing and with several more court dates in the pipeline to suffer through before Mara can officially be called a Wilson and Karen decides she has to tip the scales. Bypassing her wife completely, she approaches Bobby with a PTO request and books four full park passes for Disneyland for two weeks time.
Keeping it a secret in that time was exciting for a few days, privately grinning to herself whilst Denny and Mara argued over whose powers were the best out of the Family Madrigal over dinner, biting her lip when Hen groaned as she sank into the couch after a long shift and grumbled about needing ‘A whole damn year off’. However, the jig was up pretty quickly once Hen’s Schedule for the month dropped into her inbox.
“This is weird… Bobby just sent over my schedule and I seem to be off the whole of next week…”
Karen busied herself, going through the motions of assembling lunchboxes for the kids for the next school day and trying not to make eye contact as she let out a small 2Mmm-hmmmm that’s good right? Spend some time with the kids…”
Hen stared her down, a suspicious frown warring with a smile pulling at her lips
“What did you do?”
She tried three different versions of her ‘innocent face’ which she could see by Hen’s progressively raising eyebrows was doing absolutely nothing to quell suspicion.
“Ok… I might have… booked something. Figured it was about time we actually had some fun…”
“How worried should I be?”
Karen closed the kitchen door, deciding to play up her shiftiness now she was bringing Hen into the secret.
“The only thing we need to be worried about is the Kids finding out because we will get no sense out of them for the next four days at school if they find out we’re going… to… Disneyland!”
Karen added the way her wife’s face lit up in the ‘moments so dear’ column, one to save for later when they were being grilled by another judge. Having a secret from Hen, no matter how fun it was, was never as precious as having a secret to share with her so that column got a few extra entries after that.
First there was opening the trunk of the car to four brand new Disney themed backpacks, each already holding Disney versions of all the essentials the very next day only for Hen to shrug “We had a call next to the Disney store and they were just calling to me while we were resetting the engine…”
There was the moment when they got both kids home from school on Friday evening and told them their School holiday activities were cancelled, letting them be confused for barely a second before announcing why and almost losing their hearing with the resulting cacophony of joy before nearly losing their cool as Denny tried to pretend he was too cool to be that excited now he’s a teenager.
Top of the list, however, was the moment they got through the gates and saw Main Street USA laid out in front of them, the castle standing proud at the end as they strolled along, huddled together as they shared the moment of getting to spend time together in a way that was designed purely for them to enjoy. No work, no School, no emergencies, just pure fun.
Of course, what Karen had NOT mitigated for, was other families having some of their 600 crappy moments right in front of them. When it was the awkward Proposal refusal, She and Hen just held each other tighter, but now, now she was finding herself running Interference to make sure her Paramedic didn’t jump into the fray. It only nearly backfired once, when Mara turned green as she had spun the teacups faster than usual so Hen didn’t notice the toddler getting a knee bandaged, but by the third minor accident she had steered her wife away from, the kids had caught on and were helping her quest to keep Hen on-task. Where On task involves only screaming on the big rollercoasters.
Denny knew full well he wasn’t ready for Space Mountain, but it didn’t stop him loudly begging to go on when they saw Park Medics running in the opposite direction. The Turkey legs were bigger than Mara but she still insisted on having one after spotting someone coming off a ride a little too woozy to just be motion sick and each time she winked at them and put another mark in the good moments column.
As they settled into their suite that night, with none other than Dory looming over the bed, Hen leaned over her and gave her the sweetest kiss they’ve shared in a long time and let out a long happy sigh.
“Baby, I know I was skeptical about staying overnight when we live less than an hour away, but this whole thing might be the best idea you’ve had in years. It’s just what we all needed”
“Yeah?”
“I mean our bank balance isn’t happy, but getting to see those kids having so much fun after all they’ve been through, getting to share that with you? Worth every dime”
Karen pulled her wife into a hug, holding her as close as possible.
“And I’d do it agaaaain!”
“Maybe once a year?”
“and maybe some sort of spa for us?”
“Deal”
They get settled properly after that, Hen stroking Karen’s back as they start to drift before she whispers “I know what else you were doing today by the way”
Karen sighs, burying her face in Hen’s shoulder “I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you ruining your own fun cause someone else’s holiday got ruined”
She feels Hen’s fingers through her hair, gently tugging her head back to look at her “It was cute, watching you and the kids have your little conspiracy. I know the park staff have it covered, no need for Paramedic Hen here. In fact, buck was delighting in telling me about the Disneyland Infirmary just yesterday”
“Of course he did. You know, I was going to wait for tomorrow to tell you this but I think Buck has blown my cover with all his research but, we have reinforcements tomorrow. Chim and Maddie are bringing Jee and Buck and Eddie are bringing Chris, turns out Disney was enough of a lure for him to make the trip from Texas”
“You know Buck would have researched all that anyway, he’s a menace with Wikipedia, but that sounds amazing. And if there are any disasters, we’ll just send Buck…”
Which is exactly what they did, the following afternoon when one of the rides Denny had wanted to try was backed up due to a sick kid. They racked up a lot more happy memories that day (the video of Jeeyun meeting Elsa went straight into the favourites folder), with even more once their extended family returned to reality without them while they had one more day of rides and exploration and by the end of their holiday, none of them were looking over their shoulders, just living in the moment when it happened.
They almost managed to make it through the whole three days at Disneyland without Hen having to help anyone but on this, there was no way Karen was going to stand in her way. A teenager, barely more than 16 given a black eye by her own father right in the middle of Tomorrowland. You would think the location would be an indication that the world was moving forward, but it seems the father had caught the daughter in an awkward teenage flirtation with another girl by the water fountain. Hen was there between the kid and the dad in second, with Karen Denny and Mara following soon after. Mom was fine, but it was clear from her body language that this was not an isolated incident.
All four Wilsons glared at the Father while Hen checked the daughter’s eye, making sure her orbital socket wasn’t damaged whilst they waited for Park security and medical to get involved. Hen took the girl to a bench and wet some tissue into a cold compress for her, murmuring soft reassurances as she did so. Karen watched as the girl slowly straightened up, Hen’s words clearly preventing her from going too far into herself. Karen’s pretty sure she knows what Hen would say to the girl, both of them having been through some version of the same events before they found acceptance, but it was still beautiful to see Hen use her real skills, not just the medical ones to make the girl feel better.
And though they had spent the week avoiding a visit from Paramedic Hen, Karen realised how seeing her again was another mark in the Moments So Dear Column after all. Maybe they’d tipped the scales, make it under 600 below par moments this year after all.