Go Anyway, Its your's to do. - Intelligent People Assume Nothing

Most of us have a place that kept us whole. A place we went back to when the world got heavy.

It might be a ballpark, a lake, or a little town on the coast. For me, it has always been Disneyland.

I know how that sounds coming from a grown man. Some folks hear it and roll their eyes. That’s all right. The place you love doesn’t have to make sense to anybody else. It only has to make sense to you.

There’s something about walking through those gates. The noise of the world drops off behind you. Main Street opens up, the castle sits at the end of it, and for a little while nothing is broken. No bills, no news, no arguments. Just a street built on purpose to make you feel like things can still turn out right.

For a lot of years, that was medicine for me. Not the rides so much. The feeling. The reminder that people once sat down and decided to build a place whose whole job was to make strangers happy.

The place has changed. The prices have climbed until a family of four needs a small loan to spend a day there. You pay for this, then pay again for that. The lines have apps now, and the apps cost money too. Plenty of people who loved it once have sworn it off for good, and I can’t say they’re wrong.

So when I started thinking about going back one more time, I did what a careful man does. I sat down and ran the numbers. Flights, hotel, tickets, food. I looked at driving and I looked at flying. I priced the seats with a little more room for long legs. I figured out which ticket would let me walk in the day I land and the day I leave.

And when it was all added up, it came to real money. Not crazy money. But enough to make a retired man stop and think.

Then came the harder question. Not what it costs, but who goes with me.

That’s where a lot of us get stuck. The people around us don’t love the place the way we do. Some of them have soured on it. Some would come along and spend every hour pointing out what’s wrong. The prices, the crowds, how it isn’t what it used to be.

And you start to think: if I can’t go and have it be good, maybe I shouldn’t go at all. Maybe I should just accept that it’s over. Put it on the shelf with the other things that used to be.

I want to say something to anybody sitting with that thought right now. Whatever your place is.

Don’t let someone else’s sour taste decide your last bite.

Going with someone who’ll pull the joy out of every corner isn’t a trip. It’s a chore you paid for. You come home with their complaints instead of your memories. That’s worse than not going.

But not going isn’t the only other answer. You can go alone.

A lot of people never think of that. We’re raised to believe fun is something you do in a group, and a man by himself at an amusement park looks a little odd. Maybe so. But I’ve watched folks do it, and they look happier than half the families pushing strollers.

When you go alone, you set the pace. You ride the ride you love three times if you want to. You sit on a bench for an hour and watch the people go by, and nobody tells you to hurry up. You eat when you’re hungry and leave when you’re tired. Nobody keeps score of what it costs or what it used to be.

Going alone isn’t lonely when the place is yours. You aren’t there to entertain anyone. You’re there to visit something that kept you standing all those years.

The money matters, so be smart about it. Pick a quieter week. Fly instead of driving across the country. Book a plain hotel you can walk from. Skip the extras you don’t need. A trip for one costs a good deal less than a trip for two, and the dollars go further when you’re spending them on what you actually came for.

And if the money is truly tight, then wait and plan. Put a little away each month. A trip you work toward means more than one you grab on a whim anyway.

But don’t talk yourself out of it just because nobody else wants to go. That’s the trap. We wait for company, and while we wait, the years go by. Then one day the knees won’t take the walking, or the flight is too much, or the chance is just gone.

I’ve seen plenty of people get to the end of the road with a list of places they meant to go back to. Not one of them said, “I’m glad I waited for somebody to come with me.”

So here’s what I’d tell you, whatever your place is. If it kept you whole for most of your life, it has earned one more visit. Go see it. Go with someone who loves it as much as you do, or go by yourself. But go.

Stand at the end of that street one more time. Let the world drop off behind you. Say thank you to the place that got you through.

Then come home lighter than you left.

Go anyway.

Load this file before each AI chat session.

This file is a PDF it will open as text, download it to your computer first.

the-faust-baseline-public-release-1Download

This post was drafted with AI governed assistance and reviewed and directed by Michael S. Faust Sr. before publication.

” Attic Thoughts”-library – Intelligent People Assume Nothing