(Disney Image)
Sparkfest: Off to Neverland
“We’re off to Neverland. Here we go . . .”
Sitting in the theatre, watching Peter, Wendy, Jon, and Michael fly around the Darling nursery, then around Big Ben and into the starry sky – straight on until morning – that moment sparked my imagination for the first, fully amazed moment in my memory.
I don’t know if I was an imaginative child before that. My earliest memories are about running with my dog past my mom’s row of sunflowers. After Peter Pan, I daydreamed of flying to far off, magical places. Neverland had endless possibilities. My second story bedroom window seemed like the perfect launching place for flight, and I liked to leave it ajar, just in case.
It helped that my airplane mechanic Dad had his own Ercoupe, and I had been flying with my parents in that from the age of two months. Flight has always been and always will be a part of my dreams.
(pic from Young Eagles website of an Ercoupe 415c)
Sparkfest invites us to remember who, and what sparked our writing. Before I started writing my stories, I was daydreaming them, flying through night skies and blue days. Before I read Peter Pan, I sang the songs from the Disney movie, and danced and leaped through my own creative re-tellings of the story in my bedroom, in our living room, and in our yard, from tire-swing to tree branch – anything that could almost capture the feeling of flight.
And now, I feel an urge building to write a little story about that . . .
Then, I’ll try to figure out how to “fly” through my novel revision . . .
Enjoy Sparkfest this week! If you want to know more, visit The Writer Coaster: The Spark Blogfest
Scripture Blessings:
“but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31
12 comments:
What an awesome memory!!!I too would imagine going to far off places, but mine was an elevator...I loved Willie Wonka and the chocolate factory that was one of my favorite books!!!
Blessings, Joanne
That your dreams of flying had a real life counterpart is pretty amazing!
I can relate to how you were inspired by Neverland and Peter Pan. I always identified with Wendy and would daydream about flying off on adventures myself.
Who doesn't want to fly off to a place where you never grow up?
Aww! I love how Peter Pan and Neverland inspired you. I remember having dreams of flying and always thinking of Peter Pan afterwards. :)
Awesome. It reminds me of your story that we published in Mindflights. Dragonfold, I think was the title. She flew out the window to freedom too!
I'm jealous--flying so young :) I love that this is your inspiration.
Love Peter Pan! I have a pretty healthy imagination as an adult, but there's nothing like the imagination of a child.
I recently added Disney's Peter Pan to my Netflix queue, LoL! It's one of the Disney movies I didn't own as a kid so I haven't seen it in a long time. I haven't read it in such a long time either. I really liked the movie Finding Neverland about J. M. Barrie.
Joanne - Thanks! Aah, the flying glass elevator - loved that book too!
Alex - I agree. I still haven't pursued a pilot's license of my own . . . but I remember flying with my Dad, and the one time he let me take the controls, and that is golden.
Brianna - Flying off to adventures always seemed like the best way to me as a kid, and I've realized that currently my MC is in a dark tunnel underground at this stage in my revision process - I've got to get her to fly.
Kate - exactly! Except I love my family and would want to take them all too - being a grown up means I get to love on my kids . . . so I like that part.
Cherie - dreams of flying and Peter Pan are always wonderful!
Angie - Thanks for remembering that story! I think I have a tendency to put flight into many of my stories without even realizing it.
Angie Cothran - Flight has always seemed like true and total freedom.
Ruth - yes, I know what you mean. Sometimes I listen to my daughters and their friends, and try to capture that width and height of imagination that is purely from a child's point of view.
Laura - Finding Neverland is beautiful! That is one of the only "Peter Pan" movies that I don't own.
Hi, Tyrean! I found you on Sparkfest. Do you know what it was that made Peter Pan sad? Just last week I wrote an entire post about him. You're welcome to check it out at www.abeginneragain.blogspot.com. I loved this post!
Fantastic Spark. Peter Pan is actually in my top five books of all-time. I was a bigger fan of the movie Hook than the animated version as a kid, but that whole flying thing really gets the brain-gears going. For me, believing in God + believing in Neverland = jumping off the washing machine hoping it "worked."
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