The boys were standing in front of Splash Mountain informing me in no uncertain terms that this was a ride they were not going to go on. I was suppose to be with Parker and Lexi, but it was nine year old Billy and eight year old Luke who were on this adventure at Disneyland with me.

I had not been the most attentive person to all these children. Quitting my old company, starting a new company, my wife dying, taking back all the daily house chores, payments, investments, hiring new employees, adjusting to new business partners, flying around the country, quitting golf and lunch with my wine buddies, and of course dealing with the flood of emotions that come with it all, were great excuses for going into my shell and ignoring the most important thing in life - being a part of the people I love lives.

I booked us into the Disneyland hotel. But first we stopped to visit with my 85 year old mother who made us waffles covered in fresh peaches and sent us off full and happy. We lunched on peanut butter and jelly pizzas at Goofy’s Parlor. We met Goofy. We went to the pool. We were a little wound up at first. It had been a long drive. But, after a few screams from the life guards to stop running, the boys took me aside and calmed me down. Once I stopped running and started walking to the water slide, we all settled into a fun afternoon.

We checked out our room, took a quick nap and headed to Downtown Disney. We discovered the Lego store. After buying one small and one big Lego present for each of us, we dined at the Rain Forest restaurant with robotic pythons, elephants and gorillas. The boys thought it was all pretty cool. Our room overlooked the park, so at nine-thirty after the boys had showered and changed comfortably into their pajamas we stepped out into our balcony to watch the fireworks.

My wife loved fireworks, and this day was the 22nd anniversary of the day I met her. I can still see her for the first time, entering the Ferrara Winery bottling room. She was all curls of yellow hair, big blue eyes, and the constant happy smile that she never lost, even during the worst of times. She had made me promise to shoot her ashes up in fireworks after she passed, but her family balked at the idea and I ended up giving her ashes to her daughter, an act that I felt was the right thing to do but a bit of a betrayal to Sherrie. So, I pretended the fireworks were for her and felt that melancholy seeping in. Not for long though. While Billy stayed fixed on the fireworks, Luke turned to me and in a very happy and satisfied voice said, “This is the best day of my whole life.”