Blogging So As Not to Explode (Or, Applying for the Disney Mom's Panel)

"Give me a blog topic or I shall run mad."


Okay. So I'm not Colonel Brandon. And my dearest love isn't laying dying. But I am a little crazy right about now. And unfortunately, my madness has little to do with cooking or God...so I find that a blog adjustment may be coming so as not to confuse my legions of followers.


I'll give the seven of you a moment to finish chuckling.


Actually, this might prove to be a God thing. So maybe I should post there.


A few weeks ago, my mom called, and casually mentioned that the Disney Mom's Panel would be looking for new blood soon. I reacted with far more excitement than I think she anticipated...mostly owing to the fact that she had never heard of the Disney Mom's Panel. But I had. And while I never had really formulated aspirations of being a part of it, suddenly, faced with the opportunity to apply, I found that I had never wanted anything more.


Without sounding too smug (and exactly like a bajillion other people that I've read about), I'm super-duper qualified: I've loved all things Disney since I was a child; I began vacationing at WDW in 1978, and visited every park during its opening year after that time; I loved the place so much that I became a Cast Member in a woefully underpaid position just to work there; since returning to Florida six years ago, I've been a passholder for the last three (the closest I could get to being a Cast Member again.) Friends and family from all over ask me about my Disney knowledge (although I find a large number of my friends know quite a bit about the place, too.)

But above and beyond all that, I find a passion for Disney that reaches back to my Cast Member days and beyond. When I first went to work for Disney as a Culinary Assistant, I tried to reconcile my life's aspiration of Doing Important And Meaningful Work with working at, well, a resort. And I found that one day, during my Cast Member training (Traditions...is it still called that, by the way?) it suddenly became clear: working for Disney is a calling. People come to visit from all over the world. They are so tired, and so stressed with the day to day worries and troubles. But...if we can help them to relax and make some beautiful memories, and send them back to their day to day lives refueled and recharged, then we've done some important work.

And so with that in mind, I applied on Monday, with a fussy baby, well, fussing, and a head cold and raging hormones. Will I be successful? Will my answers to three short essay questions (100 words or less! I can't tell you my name or answer "How's the Weather?" in a hundred words or less!) wow anyone? I don't know. But I choose to look on even applying for the Mom's Panel as an opportunity. And that, I think, will make all the difference.

I should, or should not, hear something by the beginning of October. I shall keep you in the loop.