I’m wearing my daughter’s Mickey Mouse jacket. This was her prized jacket that she acquired in a magnificent Grandmother manipulation when she was 12 years old. It was a heroic showdown against what seemed to be insurmountable odds.

She’s now 29 and a Mommy of her own little ones, and although the family laughs at me for keeping this jacket, even among the few possessions that made the cut 10 years ago on my move to Israel, I could never part with it.

And today, I think I finally understand why.

It’s not just the sentimentality of keeping a childhood memento to feel close to her. Now I see that this jacket was a lesson in loving that I want to keep, always.

Flashback to times when many of life’s blessings were plentiful but money wasn’t. With five kids, I struggled to keep my household running, mostly on love and laughter. My parents who lived far away were also ‘living on love’, and when my mother came to visit, we focused on low budget activities with Grandmother for our merry troupe, with real-time demonstrations of how ‘the best things in life are free’.

So there we were at the mall, which in winter was a low-cost haven for family fun – warm, lively, with lots of space to run, restrooms, and resting places. A haven that is, provided that we manage to stick to the family philosophy I worked hard to brainwash them on for such occasions: “Think of the mall as a museum today – Enjoy looking, don’t touch, and certainly don’t think of taking anything home with us!”

Then it happened...

Suddenly in the Disney Store, with everyone happily busy exploring the glories of the World of Wonder, it happened:

My daughter saw the Mickey Mouse jacket which in better days sent a piercing heart throb of desire through my Queen of Cool.

She practically stopped breathing, clutching it to her like her lost child, now found. The thought of separation was apparently unthinkable to her, as she looked at the price tag with, in those days, the completely impossible price of $89.99, her eyes crying out “Help, puullleeeease!”

To her credit, I faintly remember that she didn’t even try with me. My heart ached as usual with sympathy for her fashion flair. She was so often the recipient of Big Sister hand-me-downs, but that did not change the lack of funds for such an extravagance. I could only afford to be vulnerable to impulse-spending in the keychain department.

By this time my dear mother with her incredible intuitive powers caught on, and I hope I remember correctly that my daughter was too polite to do more than beg with her eyes, so my mother initiated the conversation. Negotiations began.

“What’s that sweetie?” Grandmother asks innocently.

“Oh just the most amazing, beautiful, fantastic, gorgeously important treasure I’ve ever seen in my entire life” Dear Daughter replies, keeping her eyes fastened on The Jacket, with emphasis on ‘entire’ as if her life has spanned several millennia.

“Oh really”, Grandmother replies casually, “Let’s have a look.” [Slight gulp noticeable as my mother sees the price tag.] “Well, well, that’s quite expensive” she murmurs.

My daughter is discouraged, but certainly not beaten. No one has said “Absolutely not!” or “Dream on!” or shouted “PUT IT BACK!!”- yet.

So, there is hope. And hope breeds action.

I see signs of my daughter's brain calculating the metrics of the game: How much time remaining until we leave the store, review of possible moves, checking strength of obstacles to her goal, with determination to succeed in her court. To my credit I believe I managed to remain silent and at least out of the picture, if not objective.

Then honesty prevails: “I have to have it” my daughter gasps. Not in a whine, more of an announcement. Like “The sun rises in the morning.”

“Oh really?” says my Mom. “Maybe I can help you”, which releases a flood of relief in both of them.

I don’t remember the details of their conspiracy, but I do remember that the $89.99 was broken into at least 5 components, some of which were bartered for good behavior promises, some as pledges of birthday presents future, past, and present, so that my mother’s supposed cash outlay was only a fraction of the cost. This was a surefire plan so that none of us had to feel guilty, and my father couldn’t get mad.

What I do remember is that my Mother, the Ultimate Grandmother, pulled out her credit card and paid for that jacket. With a mischievous smile and sparkling eyes which only now I understand.

And I remember that my daughter gave her Grandmother the ultimate thank you, for which perhaps you have to know my sensational Drama Queen daughter [another aspect of her royalty]. She looked deep in my mother’s eyes, clutching the jacket close to her and said solemnly “Grandmother, I will be buried in this jacket.”

A new dimension...

I still laugh every time I think about it, but now I know both sides of the story. I’m that Grandmother now too, and so grateful to be part of this incredible journey in unconditional love, with a tinge of indiscriminate spoilage.

Thank you, Mother Dear, for showing me the way, and thank you , Dear Daughter, for providing me with adorable objects of my unconditional GrandLove.

Wishing to all of you
all the same,

Ronda Kay

p.s. I couldn’t resist checking in the online Disney Store to see if the jacket’s still for sale. I couldn’t find it, but I was excited to find some wonderful – and not extravagant ever-exciting Disney stuff!

Try shopping the Disney Online Store for great memories of The Enchanted Kingdom, and surprisingly great buys! Like, a search for 'organic' brings you to the Disney Earth Boutique with lots of stuff that looks worth sharing with this next generation.

I was astonished to find really reasonably priced stuff like TinkerBell organic PJs,
and Mickey Mouse organic t-shirts!

Click here to browse around and let us know below what other great finds you find!

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