I’m writing this at 10 p.m., on a bus back to our Disney World hotel. My son is asleep on my shoulder, surrounded by families who have just watched the evening fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

We’ve spent the week at Disney World — our long-delayed trip, postponed after my husband lost his mother. If I’m honest, I wasn’t especially excited to come. It felt heavy.

But tonight, I keep thinking about a moment from our first day.

Standing in a long line at Animal Kingdom, I asked a woman for directions. We started talking and I shared that this was my first time at Disney in over 20 years. “It feels just as magical on your 14th visit as it did on your first,” she said.

“Fourteen?” I asked. “What keeps you coming back?”

She paused. “The first time I came, I had just lost my mom and felt so alone,” she said. “I never feel lonely when I’m here.”

That stayed with me, and over the course of the week, I kept noticing the same thing — not the rides, but the connection.

At the pool, we found ourselves coincidentally next to families debating how to eat matzah. At Hollywood Studios, my son spotted another child about his age in a kippah (head covering) and insisted on walking over to the family saying, “Chag Sameach” in honor of the Passover holiday.

Small moments that are certainly unplanned, but I’ll remember them.

Underneath all of it is something simple and human: We don’t just look for experiences; we look for places where we don’t feel alone. Places where we can exhale. Where we feel like we belong.

When we find that, we come back. Again and again. This is the real magic. And it’s not about Disney.

It’s about what we choose to collectively build. At our JCC, that’s our purpose. A place rooted in Jewish life, and open to all; where connection happens on purpose. And, most importantly, where belonging isn’t something you earn — it’s something you feel.

Right now, on this bus, my son is asleep on my shoulder — surrounded by people who shared this same day. It is easy, in a moment like this, to feel connected.

Our job at the JCC is to create that feeling — not just at the end of a magical day, but every single day.

No one should have to travel far, or wait for the perfect moment, to feel like they belong.

From the Magic Kingdom to our JCC, I was truly reminded of a beautiful truth: It really is a small world after all. 

Shabbat Shalom, Sam Dubrinsky