Why I became a Travel Agent

This one a little longer than I expected and it starts with how we became a family…

Craig and I have always been transparent about using IVF & surrogacy to have our children. When someone asks, we elaborate. The transparency has never bothered us one bit, and I firmly believe in sharing this journey with others. In fact, I love helping friends with the process. We, like many people, jumped through hoop after hoop to have children. Their existence is always worth celebrating and sharing.

IVF transfer day!

For our children, we read books, share pictures of the egg donor & surrogates, and answer the questions they (mainly Niko at this moment) ask. Even with this transparency, it doesn’t stop them from struggling with big concepts like what is family.

Family photo from our trip to the beach. Niko is 3 here and became very inquisitive.

As Niko hit 3, he started to notice something about all the families around us. One night, he asked me why he doesn’t see families like ours. This hit me hard, and to be honest I felt like a bit of a failure parenting wise. No matter the number of books I read to him, the illustrations can never replace seeing real families who look like us. It also made me realize how lonely he must have felt—a similar loneliness I felt growing up without any gay role models except the punchlines to jokes on TV or the person whispered about by others.

Luckily, I turned to Instagram & Facebook for posts with LGBTQ+ families. Whenever I would scroll, I’d pause on a family of gay dads and show him. Realizing the small act of posting and sharing had a huge impact on my son is why I post and share our adventures as a family.

Our family of 3 announcing Fitz’s pending arrival at Hollywood Studios—the previous two (Niko & Joey) were at Magic Kingdom.

I want other families like ours to be able to see us and say, “Look this family looks like ours.” I also want those families who aren’t like ours to see us and tell their kids wow this is a family too. That small act makes an impact for how our family is received by others. It matters to our children as they learn to navigate this world.

As we looked at other families together, I began to ask myself where we feel free to be ourselves. Where the vulnerability of having a child call us both dad doesn’t risk their own safety in the wrong environment. The answer shouldn’t surprise you…it’s Disney World. 

Craig & I (circa 2014) stopping for a photo in the World Showcase at EPCOT.

Craig & I escaped there while we lived in Florida & still did after we moved back to Tennessee. We announced all 3 of our children’s pending arrivals at Disney. We’ve watch our children grow with each visit. We still escape there to share the magic with the ones we love.

I’m posing with the Walt Disney statue located in EPCOT while on a Leadership Retreat. I love my job!

All of this led me to the decision to become a travel planner—or a Magic Maker as we call it—at Once Upon a Time Vacations. By using my skills, I can share the magic my family experiences at Disney and anywhere else we travel. All modern families deserve an adventure of their own to embrace the magic. I want to help them write that adventure—their story.

And their story is worth sharing. Let’s get to planning!