Walking through the Magic Kingdom on our second day there, my fire-aching feet were making me wonder where the magic had gone when . . . MAGIC.  Mary Poppins and Burt were strolling along — and my heart did a little skip.  So much love. Mary and Burt!

I’m a middle-aged woman and there I was, ready to follow this famous (and we should mention, totally fictional) couple from Frontier Land into the Land of Tomorrow — at least metaphorically (my feet were on strike).

I had seen Mary Poppins — the movie with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke — at Radio City Music Hall when it opened in 1964.  I was five years old, dressed in frills (picture layers of crinoline), and I had let my mother put curlers in my hair for this special occasion.  I don’t remember much more about the day other than I fell in love with Mary Poppins and learned all the words to all the songs.  All. The. Songs.

So when I saw Mary Poppins and Burt, my aching feet got their second wind and I kicked up my speed a little to catch up.

But then I froze.

Strident and focused, steps ahead of Mary and Burt, was the Evil Queen.

I held my breath as she blew by me. Whew. There were Mary and Burt. All was right in the world of Disney.

That’s really how it is sometimes. Evil precedes Goodness and Light. In fact, you rarely get one without the other: the Yin and Yang, everywhere in life.  Even in the Magic Kingdom.