Thought #3:
This is a memory I'm not sure I've ever shared...
...but the first time Ryan and I moved to CA to work at Disneyland, we were homeless and practically starving for most of the summer. I was always mortified when someone offered to give me a ride home from work, and I had to tell them I lived in a motel...or a tent...or wherever we were at the moment.
But the Disney Magic is SO powerful, and it just hit me one night.
I remember sitting on a bench by the Main Street flagpole one evening, waiting for Ryan to finish working at the Emporium.
I had been upset for most of the day because we had no money for food, and were going to be sleeping in our car that night.
But as I sat there and gazed down at the castle, I was overwhelmed and started crying. I realized that I had been blessed, because I was living my dream. I was working at Disney, and I had a husband who was with me through everything. I don't think there are a whole lot of people who would have dropped everything they had to move to CA and be homeless, just so their wife could fulfill her childhood "dream"!
I was incredibly HAPPY at that moment. And suddenly I didn't care where we slept or what we ate! All it took was one look at the castle, and a whole new sense of purpose came back into my life.
