For those of us who spend a significant amount of time on the internet, the photo of the "angry Splash Mountain lady" is both recognizable and hilarious. The woman in the photo is sitting alone and looks so stern and unhappy. Her face and expression look so out of place in the photo filled with happy theme park visitors and roller coaster riders.
But behind the viral photo there's a sweet love story. Steven and Jordan Alexander have been married for a few years, but those years haven't been easy. Steven has struggled with his health, but Jordan has stuck by his side all that time. Splash Mountain is Jordan's favorite ride, but when Steven felt too tired to ride it with her, the wife marched off to ride it by herself.
When she returned, she showed him a photo of her on the ride: she looked angry. Then, the couple couldn't help but burst into laughter: this was her way of trying to make him laugh!
Now, scroll down to read about their incredible story.
A year ago this week, I posted a picture of my wife riding Splash Mountain. She was alone, sitting in the middle of the third row, giving a real mean stare towards the camera.
But the story behind the picture is the culmination of a lot of years of struggle for us – when I met my (now) wife, I was about to return to kidney dialysis, with my first transplant sadly failing. Starting a new relationship under these circumstances was hard, but she stuck by me – and a few years later we were married.
I was often very ill, and travel was something we just couldn’t do. She had hopes to take me to Disney World, as I’d never been before in my life, but we could never make it work. Years later, I got a transplant – and after things settled down, we planned our trip to Disney World! Her favorite ride, Splash Mountain, was closed on that trip, so I told her we’d ride it when we came back.
After the birth of our son, we decided to take a family trip, and her parents came along. We spent a nice day in the Magic Kingdom, but towards the end of the day – I ran out of steam, and told her she’d be better off riding alone.
She marched off towards the ride, alone, and when we made our way over, she got off the ride, handed me her phone, showed me the picture and said, ‘I did this for you!’ We both broke into laughter, hugged and made our way out of the park. The ability to make each other laugh, even in the difficult times, has been the glue of our relationship – I don’t think I would have survived without her in my life. She carried me when I was at my weakest, and believed in me when others told her not to get tied down to someone so sick.
So, the world sees a silly picture of an angry lady on Splash Mountain, but I see the funny, smart, intelligent and beautiful woman who carried me through life, and I love her more than anything. A few months later, Visit Orlando – the tourism board of Orlando – flew us down so I could finally ride with her. The truth is, I’d ride into anything or climb any mountain with and for her. She’s given me life, two beautiful kids, and the greatest life a guy could ever ask for.
Please SHARE if you had no idea there was such a beautiful love story behind this viral photo!
