First of all, thank you for all the birthday wishes!!! It is hilarious to me to think about what my reaction would have been like if someone would have told the 6 year old version of myself that I would be turning 23 while working at Disney World. Too great. I was kind of nervous about my birthday.. well, not nervous. I really hadn’t thought much about it but I had/have become more and more anxious to get home so I didn’t know how I would feel having thanksgiving and my birthday back to back but God is good! And He continually goes ahead of us and plans unique ways to be present, make us feel loved and point us to Him. I had so many phone calls, text, fb posts, and packages on my birthday that I was overwhelmed with feeling loved and cared for. At work, they brought me cake, balloons and even called the birthday hotline for Goofy to sing me happy birthday. It was awesome and I am so thankful for each and every one of them for making me feel special! I love my Disney family. For dinner, Tim, Aly, Sarah & I went to dinner at Ohanas at the Polynesian. And OH MY goodness. Best meal ever. Like I pretty much ate myself sick but it was so good. Everyone needs to eat there. Just do it. It is one of those places where they bring around the meat.. like why isn’t every restaurant like that?! And speaking of food.. Just to put every one’s mind at ease- I was able to eat a wonderful thanksgiving dinner made by my beautiful friend Tracy. And when I got to her apartment, she even had the Aggie game on for me! Talk about a true friend right there. Amanda came to eat with us too! And even though they have probably never watched an A&M game in their life they totally soaked it in! I realize that we lost but I will never forget watching that game with them. Last week I worked 8 days straight but I had a beautiful light at the end of the tunnel: a cruise to the Bahamas!!! About 2 months ago I really started to get the travel bug.. which is not out of character for me. A month later, I get a text from Sarah saying “do you have your passport?!” and the rest is history.. a couple weeks later a cruise to the Bahamas was booked and last Thursday we set sail! Colleen, a friend Sarah and I made at the very beginning of our program, and Sarah and I loaded up our suitcases and hit the road to Cape Canaveral. Well, I take that back. Colleen & I had suitcases.. Sarah brought a bag. Just about at every toll stop she realized something else she forgot but we made do! Once we got to the port, we went in search of our boat. We found the exit for Carnival, parked and got in line to board! Sarah & I had our boarding passes printed out so we were ready to go. Colleen still had to get hers.. and this is when we started to have seen the signs of trouble. The lady trying to help us couldn’t find Colleens name on the list of passengers but still told us it would be fine and to get in line to board. Welllll turns out, we get to the front of the line only to find out we were in line for the wrong boat. Sarah & I started laughing sooooo hard. Like talk about an ab work out right there.. and the lady thought we were complete idiots. But it’s okay because we made it on the right boat and it was an awesome way to start the trip! Overall the cruise was great and super relaxing! I just love traveling new places and seeing new things so it was great. Of course the Bahamas was beautiful and I had great company! Some of the highlights were:
-Singing karaoke the first night. The crowd was a little on the lame side so of course we wanted to spice things up a bit so naturally we sang “baby got back”. We even had some back up dancers and a standing ovation. True success right there. Who knew Sarah pretty much had her own dance made up to it already.. lol.
-Midnight “Remembering Michael” dance party. First of all, we danced a ton. I remember telling Sarah “I am out of dance moves.” We came back from Nassau after day 1 and were exhausted. We slept from like 11pm-12am and somehow managed to maneuver ourselves upstairs and I am so glad we did because it was a blast. I was like “this what it must have felt like to be my mom growing up…” lol.
-Photography. Oh my gosh. Maybe I have been out of the real world for a little to long because I was not aware that people still take completely serious pictures in front of completely cheesy backgrounds. And the photographers were all about them. We would walk by all the different stations and just crack up. Of course we had to take some of our own and in the pictures I am actually crying from laughing so hard. The best was when the photographer made us “plank” on top of each other in front of a background that was “under the sea”.
-Reading. I love to read! And I finished the Hunger Games while I was gone. AMAZING. I could not put it down and already have the 2nd one in hand. This is one bandwagon I am glad I jumped on. I literally could not have been happier just laying on the boat reading. It was just what I needed!
-One of our stops was in Freeport and I loved it! We took a taxi into the city and saw the beach and the little town square and ate authentic bohemian food. It was beautiful and the people were so nice!
Overall, it was great!!!! And I love Sarah for having that wonderful idea because it was totally worth it.
And to wrap this up… I have some great news for yall. You know how I have been anxious about what to do in January?! I knew the whole time that the situation was out of my hands and totally in the Lord’s so I have literally just been waiting. Well, it’s official- I am coming back to Dallas and could not be happier about it! God is sooo good. For like the past month I have been really itching to come home and the Lord is sovereign in knowing that all along. I am so glad I have come here. Wow. One of the coolest experiences I have ever had but the great thing about Disney is that it will always be here! And for the next few years I will have wonderful friends here to come back and visit! Thank you for everyone who has been praying for me and supporting me. I am making this last month here count and will be sure to keep you updated on my grand finale of Disney-ness. Hope everyone is doing well! Less than a month now til I will see most of yall and hug your necks!
All my love,
Lauren
