the call- that changed everything

the call that changed my life! as i was walking around my high school campus with a friend doing researching for an article for our yearbook i remember stopping and looking at a penny on the ground. i looked at my friend and said if only i did get lucky by picking one of these up. as we passed the front office- one of the attendants called out my name. she had an urgent call from my mom. message read: disney called re: a part in the main street electrical parade call asap. both my friend and i looked for a room where there was privacy and a phone (this was back before every student on campus carried a cell). we used a teacher phone w/0 permission but hell this was important! i called the number and thought to myself - its probably one of the rats from the cinderella unit. well i was right i was a rodent but not from that unit- i was on the drum and train! i was to report to the team center (at the time it was off of the 57 fwy) and then head to rehearsal immediately after that evening.

OK rewind a couple of weeks-- the ex had broken up with me and i was devastated. a girlfriend from dance team called me the morning of the auditions and told me to get dressed in dance clothes. when we got there we were met my other dance team members and 300+ other girls. yep- back in that day there were literally hundreds of girls lining up to audition. both my girlfriend and i kept advancing into the next round and before we knew it was hours later- we hadn't eaten for hours and we were in the final pick! as they went round the circle both my girlfriend and i stood nervously waiting- anxiously awaiting what would happen next. now that i look back many of those around us were returning parade performers. well, suffice to say we werent chosen that evening but told that our file would be kept on record. i thought "yeah right""- guess i was wrong after doing a short stint of just over seven years for the resort parade department.

many of the performers were older and there was just a few of us that were under 18. i personally was in my second semester of my junior year. all of the minors quickly became friends and disney was our new way of living. forget high school and even though i stayed on the dance team i yearned for those rehearsals and performances down main street.

disney became my eye-opener. there was a life beyond high school and the ex. many of the male performers were/are gay so the straight ones quickly got to know the new "kids". new friends, an awesome job and some different male attention quickly gave me the boost to my esteem that i needed to break the cycle of abuse from the ex. (how pathetic was i needing male attention- i can see that now) i quickly forgot him and when i stopped obsessing over him the roles reversed. funny how that works. it got so bad he stalked me at work (not disney but the red eye- for all of you who remember that store) and even bought me a ring!

but forget him and let's focus on the interesting stuff- disney. being a part of their parades and show support dept. is a way of life. as a young newbie i learned as they say "hell by fire". for example 1- if you didn't want to hear about the sexcapades (both straight and gay) when walking under the canpoy to step off turn your ears off. and if you became offended because you accidently did hear some of the adventures of the boys then you were in the wrong business! (ps there were a few who stuffed themselves to make their package look bigger) 2- make nice with the costumers- they were the ones who "cleaned" your clothes if they liked you; 3- most of the straight guys were in show support but there were a few in parades; and 4- the golden rule watch out for miss mimi--- do not take her shower after a performance!!! i repeat do not take he shower or you will regret it! punishment for taking her shower ranged from- a cold shower due to her turning off your hot water, a shower with her, or her infamous booby dance on you as you were pinned down by her naked self

i never drank at high school parties as a matter of fact i rarely went to them but i never missed the pajamma jam and always had a drink or two. i don't condone drinking but i will say the friends that i made there always watched out for me- made sure i didn't have too much and never drove home! many of them were older and watched out for us kidlets.

god the stories i have about disney but here are the most important two that i am going to share now

my dear friend- lets call him tigger. tigger and i were not friends right away and really didnt meet until an old friend of mine introduced the two of us. even though we were the same age we ran in different circles. tigger dated my friend and that ended badly but our friendship only grew. as a matter of fact he was the best man at our wedding and he is the godfather of both my children. he is one of the few people that i trust my life and my children's life with. i guess it doesnt hurt that he is also an officer (his grown up job- we all had to grow up sometime). some people think that it is weird that we are close but he truly is the closest thing i have to a brother. he has always been there for me and my family just as i will always be there for him.

my husband- looking back i hated high school and all that went with it! except for the disney audition so if i had to go through it again i would so that i would meet the man i married. the husband- also known at the time as jnglstrppr didn't perform in the parades but was actually a cast member for attractions. at the time land help staffed the parade route for guest control and we met while i was literally performing in hercules. a mutual friend set us up after a brief encounter on the parade route and the rest is history.