The CP and Me

I have loved Disney ever since I was very little. I grew up watching the movies over and over. (Who didn’t?) I had Disney dolls, books, dress-up costumes–if it was Disney, I wanted it.

When I was three, I could quote the entire book-on-tape to both “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sleeping Beauty”…complete with the “ding!”s that signled it was time to turn the page. 

When I was 7, my family made our first trip to Walt Disney World. We’ve been back 3 times since, and every time has been a wonderful experience. Although even my youngest brother is a teenager now, a Disney trip is something my entire family still looks forward to as the perfect vacation. 

On our last trip to Disney World, the summer before my senior year of high school, I was introduced to an opportunity that seemed tailor made for me–the Disney College Program. At one of the parks, as we were waiting in a line, I spotted someone right in front of us that was wearing a “Disney College Program” backpack. I struck up a little conversation, and she told me all about the program. When I got home, I spent weeks researching, and decided that this was definitely something I wanted to do.

Once I got into college, however, I found myself increasingly tied up in school. My life was getting pretty boring–class, work, home and homework–and I was beginning to feel a little bit restless. By the end of last semester, the first of my sophomore year, I felt like I needed to shake things up. I had a lot of great things going for me at home, but I knew those things would be waiting for me when I got back. It was finally time to take my Disney dreams off the back-burner. It was just the thing I needed to shake my life up. It was no longer just about my love of Disney–it was about changing my life, and finding adventure before it was too late. (It all sounds so dramatic, doesn’t it?)

Now that it’s here, there are a lot of scary things: I’m moving away from the city I’ve lived in for 17 years–the only home I’ve really ever known. I’m going to be getting a new job, new friends, even a new time zone. Everything is changing! And I have a feeling that, even when I return home, this will be the jumping off point for new adventures.