A memoir created by Tyler Petti for a final project in ENGL 015 class.

2. July 20th, 2006
It was a bright, sunny, and promising day at Disneyworld
in Orlando, Florida. It was the summer of 2006, and my
third time to Disneyworld in my life. My dad, mom,
younger brother, and 3 year old sister were all there as
well. I was 10 at the time, and thought that perhaps I had
outgrown Disneyworld, being that it was my third time
there and that the characters who I had grown up with
had unfortunately become a little bit too childish for me.
Still, I was happy to be in that magical place again with
my family and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

3. “Do you want lemonade?” My
dad’s voice brought me back to
reality, my eyes previously fixated
on the majestic look of the Disney
Castle. “Yes please”, I said with a
grin, knowing that I had a treat
waiting for me. I’ve always loved
Disneyworld lemonade, and I was
not about to pass this rare
occasion up.

4. My family and I got into the back of the
line and waited in the blistering heat for
the cold treat. Finally getting my
lemonade, I noticed that my 3 year old
sister Mia also got one. Since everything is
always a competition in our house, I
challenged her that I’d be able to drink it
faster. On the count of 3, we started and I
let her win. Her smile beamed from cheek
to cheek after the victory. However, now
we both needed to use the restroom
because we took in more of the delicious
lemonade than we had thought.

5. By this point, my family and I gotten in line at a
grille. “Ty, I have to go potty”, my sister murmured
to me. Suddenly, a strange sensation came over me.
I was 10 now, and felt older and much more mature
since the last time that I was at Disneyworld.
Glancing around, I noticed that my family was still in
line ordering their food. I don’t know what came
over me, but I decided that the next step to
becoming a man was to take my sister to the
bathroom alone. I felt so responsible that I also
decided not to tell my parents and perform the task
alone. Without asking, I grabbed my sister’s hand
and disappeared among the crowd in search of the
bathroom. I was 10, I was a man. What could go
wrong?

6. We strolled into a crowd of people and aimlessly
wandered around in search of a bathroom. “This
is kind of cool”, I thought to myself, feeling
independent and free as ever. That’s when I saw
them. Buzz and Woody, my two favorite Disney
characters, were meeting and greeting various
people. My eyes opened, my jaw dropped, and
the world around me faded out as I focused only
on them. Tugs of nostalgia pulled at my heart as
I eagerly approached them.

7. The excitement in my heart had vanished in an
instant. Where had my sister gone? In all of my
eagerness to get to meet my childhood idols, I had
left my sister to fend for herself in the maddening
crowd. “Mia? , MIA?!” I yelled, but to no avail. She
was gone, swept up in the crowd, and I was
responsible. Tearing up and with heart racing, my
10 year old self started to panic. I sprinted around
wildly, trying to locate any remote trace of my 3 year
old sister. It was useless. I was bawling by this
point. I looked up through my water-filled eyes just
in time to see my dad approach me with an angry
look on his face. Uh-oh, I thought…

8. “Where is she?” my dad asked with a hint of panic in his
voice. He immediately knew that his daughter was missing.
By now, I couldn’t talk I was sobbing so hard. My dad quickly
pulled out his phone and dialed 911. My mom and brother
rushed over to us as my dad explained to them that I had lost
Mia. My mom’s jaw dropped as tears started forming in her
eyes. She put her hand over her heart and nearly fainted.
We walked her over to a bench so she could sit down. My
parents were not even scolding me at this point; they were
focused on finding their little girl. A couple of minutes later a
police officer arrived and demanded that everyone in the
vicinity clear out so that we could have a clearer view of
where she possibly was. I’ll never forget the way his stern
glare pierced my soul. “Son”, he started out, “When was the
last time you saw your sister?”

9. I managed to utter out that I had become distracted
by Buzz and Woody, and last saw her by the corner
where they were. By now, they too had also cleared
out of the area. A couple more police officers came
and started looking around and throughout all
buildings. They told my family and I to wait, even
though I could tell my dad wanted to help. Ten
minutes passed. Still nothing. The increasing terror
and anticipation was taking a toll on my family and I.
Would we ever find Mia?

10. Twenty minutes passed. I felt absolutely
awful, and my mom was holding me in her
arms, gently rocking me up and down.
Suddenly, a voice rang out. “We found
her!” I climbed out of my mom’s arms and
turned to see my sister walking with a
police officer. I cannot describe the
weight that felt like it had been lifted off
of my shoulders. My entire family ran over
to Mia, kissing and hugging her like there
was no tomorrow. She had been found by
the police officer wandering alone at the
other end of the park. It was a miracle
that she was found. We were all one big
happy family again.

11. MORALS OF THE MEMOIR
• The central moral of this memoir is to always be responsible, no matter what the circumstance. I
was not responsible at all in my memoir, even though I believed that I was, and I almost lost my
sister because of it. Taking Mia without asking my parents was extremely irresponsible and
uncalled for, and I definitely learned from my mistake. Now, any time that I contemplate doing
something irresponsible, I think of that time and decide against it. I am fortunate that this event
occurred when I was 10, because it taught me the lifelong lesson of how to be responsible at an
early age. There is also a secondary moral to my memoir, which is don’t grow up too fast. Notice
how in the beginning of the memoir I stated that Disneyworld had become too childish for me
because I was at the ripe old age of 10. Obviously, it was not too childish, because the reason that
I lost my sister was because of my fascination with Buzz and Woody. These two morals
combined define my memoir and are two life lessons that should be taken away with it.

12. WORKS CITED
Disney Castle Image on Slide 1 http://wallpaper-download.net/movie-wallpapers/
disney-castle-wallpaper
Lemonade Stand Image on Slide 3 http://land.allears.net/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-frozen-
summer-fun-premium-package-morning-sncks.jpg
Buzz and Woody Image on Slide 6 http://disneylivingonline.com/magical-blogorail/
magical-blogorail-green-shopping-in-the-parks/