Our Love Story: Part 19

Preface: If you’ve missed any of the “chapters” of our love story so far, go back & get caught up before continuing below!
Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5 — Part 6 — Part 7 — Part 8 — Part 9 — Part 10 — Part 11 — Part 12 — Part 13 — Part 14 — Part 15 — Part 16 — Part 17 — Part 18

On January 3rd, I left in my packed-to-the-brim red car for Florida & Walt Disney World.

My Grandparents were going with me. Every year (usually at the end of January), my Grandparents would escape the cold wintery Pennsylvania weather & drive down the East Coast, stopping along the way to visit friends & family. They’d end up in Florida for a few weeks before coming back home, typically right in time to kiss winter goodbye. In 2009, they bumped their trip up a few weeks in order to drive with me down to Florida.

Grandpa drove their car and Meme switched back & forth between riding with him & keeping him company, and riding with me & keeping me company. I didn’t have to be in Orlando, checking into my internship, until January 7th, so we had plenty of time to leisurely take our time driving the 1,000 miles down the East Coast.

After spending two nights with Meme & Grandpa’s friends in North Carolina, and one night in Georgia, we arrived in Florida on January 6th. With an entire afternoon free, we went to the beach. It was absolutely thrilling to walk in the sand & soak up the sun (even if the air was quite chilly). We had a hotel reservation in Orlando that night, so after the beach, we headed that direction. Fully engulfed by the Disney bug (and absolutely dying to have access to the Parks), we went to Downtown Disney for dinner. It was the perfect evening to walk around the shops, browse through all the merchandise (but not buy anything because there was rumor that I would get an employee discount once I was actually an “employee”), and spend one last evening with my Grandparents.

We woke up the morning of January 7th to a chilly & rainy, uncharacteristically grey Florida day. I was supposed to go directly to the main apartment complex to check in – there I would not only get my apartment keys & meet my roommates for the next few months, but I would find out exactly where they had placed me to work.

Finding Vista Way turned out to be a bit trickier than we had imagined, but once we found it & got through the security gates, it was like I was walking on Cloud 9. My Grandparents waited while I made my way through the lines to check in, get my ID, choose my apartment (I picked the cheapest option: a Vista Way apartment with 5 roommates), get my job assignment, and instructions on what to do & expect over the next few days.

Keys in hand, we went in search of my apartment building. It turned out to be almost right across from the main building that housed the computer labs, a small library, and a tiny convenience store. It was building 28 & I was in apartment 4 – which meant I was on the first floor (once we had all moved in, my roommates & I would be so thankful that we didn’t get placed on the 3rd floor! The building did not have elevators, so we all agreed it would have been so rough to have to climb all of those stairs with bags of groceries & laundry – especially once the Florida heat kicked in!)

I was the first of my roommates to get into the apartment, and without even really looking around, I claimed the first bedroom I came to (after walking around the entire apartment, I realized that I had picked the only bedroom with it’s own bathroom – the other two bedrooms had to share).

The next few hours were a bustle of meeting my 5 roommates and their families, unloading my overly-stuffed car, and starting to set up what would be our home for the next 5 months.

And with that – began the blur that was the first few days & weeks of living in Orlando, Florida & working at Walt Disney World. I found out on that first day that I had been assigned to “merchandise” (so, working in one of the shops) and my home base would be the Emporium on Main Street in Magic Kingdom. I was absolutely thrilled – it was the perfect job. My roommates and I attended “Traditions” – the orientation for new Cast Members, we went to the giant costuming building & picked up our “costumes” (in other words, our uniforms for our different roles – none of us were quite cool enough to have jobs as characters), and attended the big “Welcome” party that was held at one of the newer apartment complexes.

Within just a few days, we were each going our separate ways (coming and going at literally the craziest times of day), settling into our new jobs across the Walt Disney World Resort.

I kept Derrick up to date as best I could with my crazy work schedule (I typically found myself working from around lunchtime or early afternoon until late into the night – depending on what time the Magic Kingdom was closing that day).

On January 20th (just one day shy of 2 weeks after they dropped me off), I met with my Grandparents one more time before they began their trek back home. They wanted to know everything & I gladly talked their ears off about my new job, my roommates, and how everything was going so far – I could not say enough positive things! The whole experience so far had been, magical. I was loving every single moment!

Meanwhile, over 1,000 miles away, Derrick was starting into his own new adventure.

Having officially graduated from college in December, he was faced with a big decision: what next? Having gone to school and earned a music degree, he really wanted to keep up with what he had learned & continue meeting with his voice teacher (who had become more of a best friend than a professor). He also desperately wanted to strike out on his own & prove that he could “do” life after college.

He & Caleb (his best friend) had been approached during their last semester of college by an Aflac agent – looking to recruit new members for his team. He successfully scored Derrick & Caleb & both were diligently studying to pass their insurance licensing tests so that they could go out & sell Aflac insurance.

Job nailed down, he needed somewhere to live. Through his voice teacher, he got in contact with an older lady who had a finished basement that she was looking to rent out. The price was right and the location was perfect, so as I was moving into my new apartment in Florida, Derrick was also getting settled into his new “Bear Cave”.

One of my roommates & I’s first order of business was, of course, to friend one another on Facebook. As we all sat around the living room with our laptops, they asked, “Omigosh! Is that your boyfriend?” I smiled & said that it was, they all responded, “Awwww, he’s so cute!” I found out then that 3 of my roommates had “serious” boyfriends back home and the other 2 were single & looking to “mingle”.

I missed my cute boyfriend something awful. Thankfully, being surrounded by new friends, new experiences, and a job at “The Happiest Place On Earth” worked as an excellent distraction. Late at night, when I’d get home from work though, I’d find myself missing him the most, so I’d write him long emails about my day. It was during one of those late-night emails that I planned out what it would look like if he could come to visit me (obviously, centering all of the plans around the roller coasters Disney had to offer):

“We’d go to Animal Kingdom first & ride Everest..
Then we could leave there and head over to MGM and ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster & Tower of Terror (they’re beside each other) and maybe if we can squeeze in the show ‘Beauty & the Beast’ ?? *tries to look innocent* my favorite show.. anyway..
Then we could leave & head over to Magic Kingdom and spend the rest of the evening there.. ride Thunder Mountain & Space Mountain.. watch the fireworks show ‘Wishes’ (sorry but this is a must.. ever since I saw it the other night.. I could really care less what else we do.. I just want to watch this with you) umm.. then we could do whatever else (Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.)
So, we could hit 3 parks in 1 day.. it’d be a little crazy.. but I think we could definitely do it.. and.. there really is no reason to go to Epcot.. I mean unless you wanted to ride Soarin’ or Mission Space.. *shrugs* Epcot is the lamest of the 4 parks if you ask me.. it’s cool.. but *shrugs* I’d rather be at MGM watching Beauty & the Beast or the Stunt Show..”

It was a fun exercise, but the likelihood that Derrick would actually be able to come down to Florida to visit me was extremely slim. It was fun to dream though.

About 3 weeks after arriving in Florida, I was on Facebook late one night after getting home from work when I saw the most exciting news: in a post on her page, someone had let slip that my best friend, Naomi & her husband Paul (Derrick’s brother) were expecting a baby. I went into freak-out mode – did Derrick know?! If he did, why didn’t he tell me?! And why hadn’t Naomi told me?! I was so excited!! My best friend was going to have a baby!! At least, it seemed like that was the case! I literally reached for my phone to call her, but put it back down, knowing that a phone call at 1am was probably not the smartest decision.

I waited patiently (on pins & needles) thru the night until the next morning when I noticed Naomi was “online” on Facebook – and I sent her a message, asking if what I saw was true. She nonchalauntly responded that it was & I proceeded to freak out. I literally scared my roommates because I screamed – my best friend was going to have a baby!! We got on the phone & I proceeded to continue freaking out – and for the first time since arriving in Florida, I wished I was home. I wanted to hug her & cheer for her & celebrate with her & Paul! She just laughed at me over the phone – as apparently, my reaction was bigger than anyone else’s (immediate family included).

I quickly did the math in my head, “So, this means you’ll be due sometime this fall, right?”

“Yep – my due date is in October.”

I literally sighed with relief: “Good, I’ll be home by then!”

She laughed at me, “Yeah, you better be!”

Just four days later, as I was walking out of my apartment to run to the grocery store before work, I was met with a sight I really did not want to see: someone had hit my parked car.

..Part 20 coming soon!