Kissimmee - Children

3/28/12

Today we were split among various stations at Give Kids the World. We worked some magic with kids' stars at the castle, drove the train at Amberville, helped out at the pool BBQ, and painted nails and faces at the spa.

Emily:
I spent the morning working at the castle and the afternoon working at the La-Ti-Da Spa. While I had a lot of fun at the spa, I really felt the strongest connection to the kids at the castle. Sandy Cheeks from "Spongebob Squarepants" was there in the morning, so a lot of kids came by to see her. The castle is also where kids bring their stars, write their name on it and give it to the star fairy. The ceiling and walls are covered with gold stars – one for every child with a life threatening illness that has been to Give Kids the World. There are over 100,000 stars, and families can come back and find their star on the wall. These kids' stories and spirits are with Give Kids the World forever.

Late in the afternoon, someone who was taking a tour of the facilities came over to me and handed me a gold star that had fallen off the wall. She brought it over to me so nonchalantly, like it wasn't that big of a deal. But I was panicking inside. The star had "Lexi 2011" written on it in a juvenile scrawl, and I held onto it as tight as I could. It became my mission to protect that star no matter what. What if she came back to find her star but it was gone? I couldn't bear to imagine someone's story falling through the cracks.

So I called the office to talk to someone who could get it back up, but I just got voice mail. I decided to bring the star down to the office. I brought it up to the desk and explained the situation, and the person working there took it and said she'd call someone, like it was no big deal. I could feel myself getting angry because I couldn't understand why no one else saw this as the catastrophe that it clearly was. In retrospect, I'm sure stars fall off all the time, and it's just a piece of gold plastic. But I know it's much more than that. I could feel Lexi's spirit in that star. The stars are hope and they are love, just like the kids. I didn't realize how much these kids had affected me and touched my heart until this star fell off. But I can see how I'm connected to all these kids: past, present and future. And I'm thrilled.