I was five years old the first time I saw it.
My grandparents had surprised our entire family with a trip to Walt Disney World—though back then, I proudly called it “Disney Weeeeld.” I couldn’t quite pronounce it, but I felt it. Even before we walked through the gates, I knew this place was going to be different. Magical.
It was Florida hot—the kind of heat that makes your shirt stick to your back and your imagination run wild. My grandmother and I were on Main Street, U.S.A., waiting for the afternoon parade. She helped me climb up onto a park bench so I could see above the crowds. Short five-year-old me stood next to her, eyes wide, heart racing, trying to take it all in.
The music began. Dancers twirled. Floats glided past. Characters I had only seen on our old boxy TV suddenly came to life. It wasn’t just a parade—it was a story unfolding in real time. And I was part of it.
Then, just as the final float approached, it happened. Mickey Mouse looked right at me. Our eyes met—and he gave me a wave. Not just any wave, but a magical wave. One that somehow made me feel like the only person on that street. Like he saw me. Like the dream I didn’t even fully understand yet had just been given permission to exist.
I turned to my grandmother, my voice filled with certainty and said: “I’m going to work here someday.”
She smiled—one of those quiet, knowing smiles that grandmothers are so good at—and said, “I believe you will.”
That was the moment it all began. A dream, a direction, a spark that would flicker and grow over the next two decades.
From Parade to Plate: A Dream Realized
Twenty years later, I found myself standing in the kitchen at EPCOT Events, the catering department at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT. Apron on, knife in hand, surrounded by the organized chaos of a bustling event kitchen. We weren’t just feeding people—we were crafting experiences. Whether it was a private celebration, a large corporate gala, or prep work for the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, everything we served became part of a larger story, a memory in the making.
As a chef, I was helping to create the same magic that had once enchanted me. Somewhere on stage, just beyond the kitchen walls, a child sat wide-eyed taking in EPCOT’s World of Innovation. Somewhere, a dream was forming—just like mine had all those years ago. And just like that, I had become part of the very thing I once dreamed about.
“Too Many People Grow Up”
Walt Disney once said, “That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up.”
That quote has always stayed with me. It wasn’t Walt suggesting we act childish. It was his way of reminding us to never lose our childlike wonder—that sacred sense of curiosity, joy, and open-hearted imagination that sees possibility in the everyday.
Walt understood something profound: wonder isn’t something you grow out of—it’s something you grow into, if you let yourself. It’s what inspired him to create Disneyland not just for children, but for adults, too. A place where dreams are shared across generations. Where creativity and imagination are lifelong companions.
And now, more than ever, we know something else to be true: the height of creativity often comes later in life.
Creativity Ripens with Age
In our later years, something beautiful happens: creativity deepens. We become less interested in perfection and more interested in expression. We trade performance for purpose. Our stories gain texture. Our art gains soul. Our ideas are no longer just fueled by ambition, but by wisdom and wonder.
Creativity doesn’t dry up with age. It matures. It becomes less about proving and more about becoming. Less about starting fast and more about finishing meaningfully.
That childlike spark—the one Walt talked about—is still there. But now, it’s tempered with life experience. With patience. With perspective.
A Center for Wonder
At the Center for Abundant Aging, we believe that aging is not a retreat from life—but an invitation into deeper, abundant living. That creativity isn’t something we outgrow, but something we grow into.
So here’s your invitation: Imagine again.
Close your eyes and ask yourself:
What have I always wanted to try?
What dream have I set aside for “someday”?
What creative spark has been quietly glowing inside me, waiting for a little oxygen?
Maybe it’s writing your story.
Maybe it’s picking up a paintbrush.
Maybe it’s dancing in your living room.
Maybe it’s cooking meals from memory and passing down the recipes.
Maybe it’s simply sitting in stillness and creating space for something new to emerge.
Whatever it is, now is the time.
Let the Parade Begin Again
I often think back to that parade—the music, the movement, the magic. But more than anything, I think about that small moment with my grandmother. That moment of saying something aloud that felt bigger than me. A dream. A desire. A future I could barely imagine but fully believed in.
You have those moments, too. We all do.
And no matter your age, you are still allowed to dream. To create. To begin. Because creativity doesn’t retire. And neither does your imagination.
So dream boldly. Create freely. Age abundantly.
And remember…
"One little spark of inspiration
Is at the heart of all creation.
Right at the start of everything that's new,
One little spark lights up for you!"
Let that spark grow. You're never too old to imagine something new.
