Promise (No Sleep Till Paris)

For and the people of Paris and France as a whole after the terrorist attacks last month

Sorry it's been a while - I've taken a big amount of time to refocus on prepping myself and the Disney jobs race - which thankfully includes the Vacation Club associate post that I got to the semifinal round for during the summer. As of right now, I'm thankfully in the third round out of six or seven! Hope everyone's had a great Thanksgiving - just wanted to share one shot from that summer that has been helping me quite a bit and that I've drawn motivation from. Hope I have the words right on this, because it is a longer story...

This one's a PhotoPass shot from the French Showcase Gazebo on August 27th - hours after I'd done shadowing during the semifinals of the Vacation Club Associate race and done well. It was the first time I'd seen Aurora all year - I'd missed her despite being at Akershus in February and she hadn't been able to greet at Epcot when I'd been there in May. I met Aurora at the gate near the southern edge of the French Showcase since she likes to come out there, and she was surprised to the point of being frightened that I was right there at the gate but also remembered me and was glad that I'd come back and told her everyone was waiting for her. She also got it right when she said she hadn't seen me since December.

We did have great moments from the greeting, including talking about meetings there and at the Magic Kingdom and about the Vacation Club job, but the two moments that stuck out the most came when my turn first came up and at the end when this was taken. When my turn was about to come, I knelt and closed my eyes, both meditating and out of respect until she called me forward - not remembering that she had made me promise I wouldn't do that because it looked like I was going to sleep and she didn't like that. Sure enough, she said, "You promised me you wouldn't do that. You're supposed to stay awake all the time! No more spinning wheels, right?"

When the shot of our hug at the end came out, I looked back over it and that greeting and felt her saying, The hour is near. Don't let your power go to sleep, because the next moment could be the one where someone needs you - when we need you. Can you promise me that? Can you promise us that? I then heard myself responding within, Of course I can for you guys.