Pixie Dust

Okay, its 2AM and I am updating. This could be a very bad idea, but I don't like being so out of touch with the world. And in some ways I do. But I really don't.

So, lets see.

I left off hacking my lungs out after getting the summer project plague due to running 25 hours a day and draining my sleep tank.

Things have been an insane roller coaster ride since then. I shall summarize with a list, beginning with the most important/pertinent thing.

~My dad had another cancer scan, which came back negative except for a miniscule spot on his lung. This is really good/ maybe not so good news. The fantastic news is that there is no sign of any cancer left where his kidney used to be. And the spot on his lung may be nothing. So lots of prayers will be said over the next few months. His next scan will be in three months.

~We brought our friend Ray from China to church with us last Sunday. He had never been before and it was really cool to hear him talk about his experience.

~Leadership is hard, but I knew that full well going in. I was not expecting it to be easy and I was right. Good news is that our directors team works really well together. Pat (see previous entry for a visual aid lol) is the female project director and she is basically opposite of me in the best way possible. Obviously if you are reading this you know how very right-brained I am. Big picture, go in guns blazing, jump in headfirst- these are me in a nutshell. I hate details. Pat is fantastic about details and things I forget about and awesome at calming me down when I spill out these extravagant, not thought out plans. I love her. We are quite the dynamic duo if I do say so myself.

~This past Tuesday we went to UCF for campus outreach. Last Tuesday also happened to by my best friend on the planet Jessica Nicole Leeds' 21st birthday. And she happens to go to UCF. Perfect. Except its really hard sometimes when my two worlds collide. I feel like not only do I struggle to keep my heart fully here and not torn between Orlando and home, but I have to figure out how to balance my heart over the whole town of Orlando. It is a struggle that nobody else here faces and not one that I anticipated. I want to be fully and utterly devoted to this summer project but I love my friends and I recognize how important it is to be spending time with them as well. I really think its an amazing blessing that I have this opportunity, whereas the last few months it has seemed like a curse that I had to choose. It is yet another clear beacon that this is exactly where God wanted me for the summer. So, after spending the day with everyone on project on campus, I surprised Jess by joining her and our other friends for birthday dinner. It was so good. I miss everyone so bad.

~It is a really big deal for our store to make budget for the week. It helps determine a lot of stuff, from payroll to how many people they can hire to what hours the store is open. It is also really rare that we make budget. Last night, we were part of the closing crew, meaning we worked until 2:15. At 12:30 or so, just as the store had closed and we had begun our closing assignments, TJ ( one of the managers) came out saying "TIME TO SHOP!!!." Apparently this has happened before, but our budget was 1.5 million dollars for the week and we had made $1,499,582. Which meant that we were about $4o0 away from the golden number. At this point, my coworkers and I each grabbed a basket and began literally shopping. All the things that we have had our eye on were ours for the taking. Well, to buy, not take, but you know what I mean. But it was so ridiculously fun. We raided the candy section with enough sweets to satisfy us for the night and picked up all the little things we had been wanting for weeks. I grabbed this really cute stuffed Eeyore, a car decal, a pen, some candy, etc. It was about $40 worth of stuff I would have bought anyways, but due to all of us shopping, the store made budget for the week and we all got cookies as a reward. It was hilarious, we were all ringing each other up at our registers and joking around pretending to be annoying guests. I think it was my favorite night to date.

I just really love my co-workers, and not just my fellow project-ers from Team Emporium (although I want to brag on us, we are really close and probably the most awesome team that ever existed except perhaps the Justice League). I work with some really really amazing people. One unique thing about working at Disney is that there is pretty much nobody who works there for the money or just because they need a job. I work with people who are willing to work minimum wage night shifts stocking fifty dollar mickey mouse dolls just because they believe that happiness is real and dreams do come true. Sure, we complain and grumble and moan, but at the end of the day, it is evident that there is something unique about each and every cast member. Every night a collective prayer goes up amongst Magic Kingdom cast members that their break ticket comes somewhere between 945 and 10, because no matter how many times you have seen the Summer Night-tastic fireworks, it never gets old. I was one of the lucky ones twice this past week. The first night I got my slip at 10:08 and sprinted backstage to watch the last 5 or so minutes of the show, joining a pod of my coworkers behind the shop. You have a semi-clear view of the castle, and personally I have found few spots better to watch the fireworks than behind the Emporium. Two nights later, I was told to go on break at 9:52. I almost cried from joy. As I stood outside slurping microwave chicken soup with a spork, I looked around and realized how blessed I was. I was standing amongst a group of adults, whether college age or far into their seventies, who were instantly transformed into children the moment the sky began to light up.

No matter how insane the store was that night, no matter how many angry guests you had to deal with that day, all is right with the world when Tinkerbell flies through the sky, forcing the evil pirates to leave (there is this utterly fantastic scene in the Nighttastic fireworks where Captain Hook and his band of hooligans "take over" Cinderellas castle and begin to "blow it up" (fireworks shoot off of the castle to make it look like it is exploding. It is both the most disturbing and the freaking coolest thing ever) all to the tune of Pirates of the Caribbean music). I watched the faces of my co-workers the other night and caught a glimmer of the very thing that lies in each of our hearts: hope. No matter what, we still have hope.

Today I went to church, went swimming with people from all over the world who I consider my dear friends who I didn't even know two months ago, had a ten minute conversation in broken Spanish with a woman from Venezuela who thanked me profusely for even attempting to communicate with her, played football with a boy dressed up as Buzz Lightyear in the middle of a busy store had a spiritual conversation with another Christian girl and two Mormon girls over dinner in the Main Street Break Room, and made a 5 year old girl with Down's Syndrome stop crying and start laughing by giving her a sticker and sprinkling her with Pixie Dust. I am so blessed. This still all feels like a dream.

It is bedtime. But remember, no matter what, God is still good. Good will always win. No matter what circumstances surround you right now, God is greater and more powerful than all of them, and he is also more good and just than all others. So have a little hope. Tinkerbell brings hope to thousands every night. But God brings hope to billions.

I love you all.
Kel