Will you still be with me when the magic's all run out?

Anyone who knows me knows that my heart belongs to Disney. If Filipinos proudly say, "Pinalaki ako ng SexBomb," then I can safely say Disney raised me right alongside them. 

Give me a High School Musical track, and I won’t just sing every single lyric by heart, I’ll name the exact movie installment and scene in a heartbeat. 

Play Camp Rock, and I’ll drop right into that iconic knee thing, no matter how embarrassing it looks to everyone else. 

And don't even get me started on the Jonas Brothers, just look away, because the nostalgia is real. 

Throughout my childhood, high school, and let's be honest, well into my college years, I downloaded every single Disney Channel Original Movie I could get my hands on. I’m blabbing, but I just really want you to understand the pure and unfiltered Disney kid inside me.

 (Visiting Disneyland is a dream come true for someone like me!)

Right now, I’m sitting at my desk, trying to get things done, when a familiar song plays through my ear
phones: "If Only" by Dove Cameron (from Descendants movie)

For a bit of context, Descendants is about children of classic villains. Dove plays Mal, the daughter of Maleficent. When Mal meets Prince Ben (the son of Beauty and the Beast), she finds herself tumbling into that breathtaking confusion of falling for someone from a completely different world. She's torn apart wondering if two people so inherently different could ever truly work. 

Oh God, I adore that trope. My 29-year-old self is sitting at work right now, completely overwhelmed with kilig just writing about it. There’s a scene by the enchanted lake where Mal sings through her turmoil: 

"I can't decide what's wrong, what's right? Which way should I go?" 

My heart aches just hearing it. But what hits me the hardest every single time is the bridge, where she sings,

"Am I crazy? Maybe we could happen. Will you still be with me when the magic's all run out?"

In that moment, Mal believes Ben’s feelings are only real because of a love spell. She doesn't realize yet that the enchanted lake washed the spell away, that everything he feels, every look and every gesture, is completely genuine. 

Aww. (Safe to say, I know what movie I’m rewatching tonight.) 

Why am I sharing all of this in the middle of a workday? Because lately, I feel a lot like Mal. (Mal-rae, if you will.)

I’m realizing that some of the most beautiful moments in life come with an ending. Sometimes, a season or a connection is time-limited, and all you can do is hold on tight and cherish every single second you have left. And when the illusion fades or the spark dims, you’re left with a quiet and aching hope that whatever remains to be real.

Like Mal, it's so easy to find yourself lost in a haze of "if onlys" while wondering if you're just dreaming, trying desperately to decipher the signs, and searching for the path to who you are truly meant to be. The chorus goes,

"If only I knew what my heart was telling me 

Don't know what I'm feeling 

Is this just a dream? 

If only I could read the signs in front of me 

I could find the way to who I'm meant to be"

If you’re feeling that same ache today, I sincerely hope you remember that even when the enchanted dust settles, you have the power to create your own magic. A kind of magic that doesn't fade with time, but stays with you, whole and completely your own.