Do you know what sound a giraffe makes? I do. Did. Kinda.... So here's what happened. On Tuesday I went to the Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. Basically, it is a dance/vocal show that features all of the Lion King songs. There are four main performers that each sing different LK songs, but before the actual show begins, they have audience members come up and participate. The theater is kind of amphitheater-ish, with the audience split into four different sections, and for the pre-show entertainment they assign each of those sections a different animal that they have to imitate. They always assign the same four animals: elephant, lion, warthog, and -yup- giraffe. THEN they choose an audience member to come on stage and "lead" the section.... you can see where this is going, can't you? So we're sitting on the third row (when I say we, I mean my two work friends and me), and the performer comes up to at least four different little kids and asks if they want to come up. Each one says no. My friends grab my hand and yell, "She wants to, she wants to!" while waving it frantically in the air. (Meanwhile I'm fighting them to let go, because let's face it.... no one wants to get up in front of an entire audience and imitate a giraffe.) BUT, she saw it. Too late now. So she comes up to me and asks if I want to go up. I go on stage and the lady introduces my name and where I'm from (insert thunderous applause here), then asks me to make a giraffe sound into the microphone. "Baah?" was all I could come up with. And there you have it... my 15 seconds of Disney glory.
You can just imagine how the rest of my Tuesday went- it was fantastic! So here's some background info: I wasn't super happy about my old roommate situation. So on Monday night, I spur-of-the-moment decided to switch apartments (which I'm so happy about- my new roommate is so awesome). Anyway, on Tuesday is when I actually went to talk to Housing Management and they said I could switch. So that put me in a great mood for the long and fun- filled day ahead. That's when we went to Animal Kingdom, and I had my little "performance". After the show, I was telling my friends that for my birthday I had come to Animal Kingdom by myself, because I hadn't really met any friends down here yet. That's when they got the idea to do my Birthday "Redo". So we got buttons and headed to get lunch. Well, at lunch the worker saw my button and got me a free dessert! It was great. After, we went on the Safari ride, and as we were walking into the line, the worker at the front sees my button and wishes me a happy birthday. So nice.... but later as we were waiting in that line, the announcer comes on the intercom and says "We'd like to wish Allison a happy birthday in Swahili....". Then he said happy birthday in Swahili, but I can't remember the exact phrase (although I do remember that Jumbo means "hello").
After Animal Kingdom, we went to Epcot to do the Kim Possible missions, and so that I could get a snack at all the different countries (I only got a Pretzel and ice cream... sad). But it was really cool. I thought the missions were gonna be lame like... "Go find this building, then come back. Good Job." But they were so integrated into the country displays. Like one country -I won't say which, because I'm going to do them with my family when they come- sends a smoke signal out of a building's roof. It was so fun. After our "missions" we went to Hollywood Studios to ride the new Star Tours. We ended up riding it like three times that night (and let me just say, I can't get of the flippin' Wookie Planet- I get it EVERY time!). But we also saw Fantasmic, which I love! It is a water/light/action/firework/movie show that is sooooo good. It makes me so happy every time I watch it. All in all, it was a fantastic day, and the best Birthday Redo ever!
So as I'm loving life, I sometimes get pulled back into reality. Like when my Mom texted me this week to let me know that my grandma had passed away. That was just a weird feeling. I actually didn't cry when she told me, and I still haven't cried (I'm guessing all the water works are retaining themselves for the funeral). But I just felt so happy. My grandma Lucile was 93 years old, and had an amazing life. I was thinking about all of the different places she traveled to, and all of the different eras she's seen. It's incredible. She was such an amazing woman, and was so much fun to be with. I have so many memories of her. Kim and I would always sleep over at her house, and go swimming, eat macaroni and cheese, and watch Little Women. She would always give us wafer cookies and she made the best cooked carrots I have ever had. One thing that really sticks out to me was how important the temple was to her. It was like she understood some secret about its sacredness and importance. Unfortunately, I never got to the age where I was able to talk to her about it, but I know someday I'll get the opportunity to. When that day comes, I'll be glad and excited to share in her understanding and to sing "Springtime in the Rockies" with my grandma again.
No comments:
Post a Comment