Growing up, I always knew I’d become my mom. It ran in the family, after all. She was turning into Grandma, and I favored her over my dad, so it stood to reason I’d turn into her.

I never expected to become my dad.

My family had a tendency toward vacations that were road trips. My dad has a bit of a nomadic side to him, so I think those road trips really helped ease that need to go, go, go.

My dad was also a control freak.

I remember half-teasing that he had a tendency to plan our vacations down to the minute.

Trips to Disney. To California. Hockey tournaments. Busch Gardens. The Henry Ford Museum.

Everything was thoroughly researched and plans made that we weren’t allowed to deviate from.

It was intense vacationing.

I swore I’d never do that.

And I haven’t…

Exactly…

When the word came down that Denver’s original wish was going to be a no-go, I knew what that meant.

A return to Disney World (his backup wish).

This time we’d have the experience of last year (and the handful of missteps we made, rides we missed, etc.) to guide us…

Which meant planning was going to happen.

Turns out the teen is as much my dad, if not more, than I am. We’ve gathered books (these are just two of the 6 we have), watched every single Disney special on TV we could find, and I got the free Disney vacation DVD. We’ve written down what we missed that we want to see, and things we saw we want to do again. Denver has even located a map w/ approximate walking times between attractions (seriously).

I’ve made meal reservations (we sort of flubbed this last time), and Denver’s plans are revolving around those times and the parks we’ve mutually agreed we want to visit each of our three days.

Since he’s been gone most of the summer we haven’t gotten down to nitty gritty, and I’m still insisting on complete flexibility (not minute-by-minute) in our planning because things happen, and my dad is ill, and my mom has a horrific back (they are going w/ did I mention that?)–so flexibility is key…but we are going in with some plans this year.

It’s oddly soothing.

Just don’t tell my dad I said that.