Magic Kingdom, Medical Charts, and Everything In Between

This was one of those stretches of time that made no sense on paper.

A work trip. A birthday. Disney. A medical visit. Long COVID. Late nights. Early mornings.

All woven together over days that felt both full and fast.

And somehow, all of it belonged together.

I am just returning from a trip with my girls, and if I am being honest, it was everything we did not know we needed.

I spent part of this trip answering emails, part of it holding my breath, and part of it trying to memorize the sound of my girls laughing.

Those of you who have been following Big Girl Panties Diaries know that this past year has been heavy. Both of my daughters have been navigating serious health challenges, and our lives have become a rhythm of appointments, unknowns, pivots, and constant recalibration. We have adjusted to this reality, but that does not make it easy.

When a work trip to Tampa landed during spring break, I made a conscious decision. Instead of treating it like another obligation, I chose to turn it into something more intentional. We needed a break from the long winter, a change of scenery, and a few days that were not centered around medical portals and next steps.

For the first few days, I worked while the girls spent time by the pool. We kept things simple. We enjoyed good food, long walks, warm air, and what we jokingly called Vitamin Sea. That simplicity alone felt like a reset.

Anna’s 13th birthday fell during the trip, and we wanted to make it meaningful. At the same time, we were mindful of Hailey’s chronic fatigue. Energy is no longer something we can take for granted, so we approached the days with intention. We chose a few half days at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom instead of trying to do everything. We built in rest and allowed space for joy without overextending ourselves.

At one point, Anna was already planning the next ride, negotiating snacks, and reminding us what time we needed to leave. Thirteen going on COO.

Hailey paced herself the entire time, quietly calculating what she could handle. Watching her choose joy without overdoing it is a kind of strength I am still learning.

There was a late night on Space Mountain, followed by an early morning that came too quickly. We were tired, but we also laughed more than we had in a while. For a few moments, we were not thinking about what comes next. We were simply present with each other.

That presence mattered.

On the way home, we stopped in Washington, DC, so Hailey could meet with a new medical team for her long COVID. The timing was far from ideal. It meant transitioning quickly from celebration and fun back into medical conversations and uncertainty. It meant very little sleep and a lot of emotional shifting in a short period of time.

The appointment itself was long. Five hours, more testing, more questions. The kind of day that can feel overwhelming before it even begins.

But this time, something felt different.

The team was exceptional. They listened. They looked deeper. They offered new ideas and a different perspective on what might be possible moving forward.

We left not just with information, but with hope.

That is the reality of this season. Life is not separating itself into neat categories. The hard and the beautiful are happening at the same time, whether we are ready for it or not.

This was not the first time we have lived this way. There have been countless trips for appointments, long days filled with logistics, and moments where everything feels like it is happening all at once. And still, in the middle of that, there are moments that matter more than everything else.

I have written before about not waiting for life to calm down before allowing yourself to feel joy, and this experience brought that lesson back in a very real way.

Not in a perfectly planned moment, but in the in-between. In choosing a half day instead of a full one. In laughing even when we were exhausted. In celebrating a birthday while still carrying everything that has not yet been resolved.

This season has redefined what happiness looks like for me. It used to be tied to big vacations, clear schedules, and the satisfaction of checking things off a list. Now it looks like presence. It looks like pacing. It looks like choosing joy in the middle of uncertainty instead of waiting for certainty to arrive.

It is the same lesson I see in organizations all the time. We wait for stability before we allow progress, but life and leadership do not work that way. The best leaders do not wait for certainty. They learn to move forward while holding complexity.

The truth is that you cannot wait for the chaos to calm down before you allow yourself to be happy. If you do, you will be waiting indefinitely.

Life is not going to organize itself into neat chapters where the hard parts end before the good parts begin. They coexist. They overlap. They demand to be held at the same time.

This trip reminded me that finding joy where you are is not just a nice idea. It is a necessary practice.

Personally, and professionally, there is still a great deal that I do not know about what comes next. However, for this stretch of time, I allowed myself to stop trying to solve for it. I stayed present. I watched my girls laugh. I celebrated a milestone. I showed up for what mattered most.

And I allowed that to be enough.

Because sometimes life looks like Magic Kingdom and medical charts in the same week, and learning to hold both is the real work.

Big Girl Panties Rule: Do not wait for life to make sense before you let yourself live it. The joy is not on the other side of the hard. It exists alongside it.