Unable to afford tickets to Walt Disney World (lol #poorcollegestudents), we woke up this morning and went to the next best thing: Disney Springs. When I came across the “Build Your Own Lightsaber” station, my heart said yes, my wallet said no and Sydnie said we had no room in the van. Lauren went nuts and told us every little detail ever about anything Disney related, like the fact that nobody who works at Disney ever points with one finger. It wouldn’t be a giant corporation without a Starbucks and while there, Kaitlyn forgot the word grande and ordered a venti instead. It’s almost midnight and she’s still going. After a morning of getting in touch with our inner child, we were off to Give Kids the World.
I was assigned to work at the Castle of Miracles for my first shift and the La-Ti-Da Spa for my second. Not going to lie, the hype surrounding the Castle was insane and I was so excited to work it. Courtney and I were trained and ready to go. But we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Nobody ending up coming through to get their star made or obtain their pillow from Hermes at the pillow tree. Honestly, I was disappointed because I wasn’t really looking forward to my shift in the Spa, because I’ve never painted nails or applied make up in my life.
Turns out, the Spa was easily the most rewarding and awesome shift I’ve had so far. AnnMarie and I were in charge of the spa, which, yeah, on paper sounds like a disaster. But wow was it fun. A little girl, probably about two, came in to get her nails done. Her mother sat in the chair while her daughter sat on her lap. As AnnMarie began to paint her nails, she started to cry. Her mom wanted her to finish getting all of her nails painted though, so I went over to try to cheer her up. The little girl told me that she was afraid to get her nails done and just didn’t want to do it anymore. To reassure her, I told her it was perfectly fine if she wanted to go ahead and paint my nails first, so she would know it’s not at all at scary. This immediately stopped the tears, put a smile on her face and she began painting my nails this awesome shade of blue. I was impressed with her skills and thanked her for my new look. She allowed AnnMarie to finish painting her nails with no problem!
A little boy came in to get an air brush tattoo. Before sitting in my chair, his dad joked with him, “just so you know son, tattoos hurt!” His son shook his dad off and walked on over. With his dad out of earshot, he quietly asked me if the tattoo would really hurt. I sprayed myself with the air from the air gun and then sprayed him (without the paint in it). “See it doesn’t hurt does it?” What he said next took just about every inch in my body not to tear up. “Nah, its nothing compared to the needles I’ve had in me before. I’ve had cancer and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I have this button.” Emotionally, I was speechless, but, as a volunteer, I had to keep my game face on and not skip a beat. I carried on the conversation with this kid with a smile and even made him laugh a few times.
Every day that we’ve been here, there have been so many moments, which from the outside, seem like they are so small and insignificant. But those little things are things I know I will remember for the rest of my life.
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