Love Notes

I realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog.  I extend my heartfelt apologies to anyone who uses the blog as their toilet reading. (Yes, I have followers that do exactly that.)  Since early February, I’ve been deeply involved in arranging our upcoming cross-country move.  I will definitely be sharing some stories and thoughts, both funny and unfunny about that whole process and the thoughts and feelings behind it.  Today though, in a slightly related-mostly unrelated topic, however, I want to talk about love notes.

Unabashedly, I am a sucker for love notes.  Somewhere in my primordial ooze, a gene established itself as a complete romantic, mushy-gushy scrapbook type of individual, and I cherish and love each note of encouragement, love, affection, holiday greeting, etc that passes through my fingers and my heart.  What this means is that as I pack and purge, I am constantly faced with an impossible choice…to save or toss this amazingly precious bit of paper?  Always. always the choice is to save it, after all, it says so much..and so the packing pile grows.

The love notes can be from anyone.  Of course, notes from my husband and beautiful children melt my heart and are always a good way for any of them to get out of trouble.  And they know this.  My quiet, introspective husband writes a damn fine love note and although you, dear reader will never know their contents, you are certainly allowed to be jealous.  He’s goooood.

But right at this moment, as I make one of the biggest changes in my life, after some of the most stressful years of my life, I find that some of the most precious love notes I have are those that came from my Cast when I was their manager.  Adventureland-Liberty Square Cast Members are people exuding with personality and vitality, and filled with creativity and with no fear of expressing it.  As the job, schedule, policies and other assorted work-related headaches are more extreme than necessary for what should be such a magical place, the Cast was often left feeling discouraged and without advocates.  When I would step in and assist my Cast with whatever they need, or at least listen with a sympathetic ear, I would often return to my office after a long shift and find little love notes written on post-its and pasted to my cubicle.  Anything from the silly: “Jennifer is the lemon in my iced tea” to the suck-up: “Your kids are the cutest kids on the planet!”  Frequently, they were veiled taunts at my other team members: “Jennifer is my favorite manager!” surrounded by swirly hearts.  Once, after loaning my jacket to a former Cast Member who was visiting from England, I put the jacket on 3 days later, reached into the pocket, and found a little slice of sweetness in the form of a hidden note from her.  That note, worn and faded, still resides in the same pocket, and always warms my heart when I wear the jacket.

My cast also enjoyed my subversive ways of dealing with ridiculous management dictates.  My boss, an unnamed ass who will go down in the annals of spectacularly ineffectual and uninspired pseudo-leaders, once pulled me into the office and demanded that I “do something about all those notes.”  I asked what he wanted me to do with them.  He replied that my desk looked messy and disorganized because of all those notes and “all those pictures of your kids.”  Now, keep in mind, other managers had so much Disney/Baseball/Simpsons/Whatever memorabilia that there was no room to write or effectively use a keyboard on their desk, but MY desk was the problem desk.   Even HIS office was a mish-mash of Disney crap, Dolly Parton altar, and ugly cat pictures, but I was supposed to remove the photos of my children.  No waaaay, Mister.  I clung to his claim that it was disorganized, and promptly walked out to my desk, removed everything, and meticulously put it back, in nice neat rows.  All pink post-its were lined up vertically to the millimeter; all the smaller, white ones went horizontally across my cubby door.  My childrens' pictures in frames were lined up in a precise row across the back of my desk, in age order, and all the snapshots under my clear plastic blotter magically became arranged by size.  All the cast leaving notes in the future followed my lead, and each subsequent note continued whatever pattern suited it best, and never did the subject come up again. 

Upon my layoff, one of my greatest fears was that during the packing process, my beautiful and meaningful notes would get “lost.”  Thankfully, a friendly face was assigned to pack up my things, and very sweetly she included every single note.  They reside in a box, ready for the day when I can go through them without bawling my face off, and can put them in a scrapbook of my Disney career.  Each Cast Member who took 15 seconds on some random day to thank me, to brighten my spirits, or to leave me a reminder of some crazy inside joke has no idea how much those notes buoyed me on my difficult days, and how they remain close to my heart to this day.

I challenge you today to write a love note to someone.  Make it long and heartfelt, make it short and silly.  Make it spontaneous and meaningless, or a ridiculous declaration of your love.  Whatever.  Just make someone happy for at least the time it takes to read it, and whether or not they are a pack-ratting scrapper like me who will save and cherish it, it will make an imprint on their heart.

100 Thankful Things-Part 3

Here's part three...enjoy!  Wow..look at those cool Amazon ads popping up.  I wonder if you do your Amazon shopping via the link from my site, if that would generate any income.  Hmmmm.  :)

52. For awesome little netbooks won at work.  For cool leaders who try to make a crappy job tolerable or even fun with prizes and recognition.  It works.  I can haz the ipad next please?  Or the Volkswagen Jetta?  I DID sell 7 today.  Just sayin’.  Top seller of 100+ reps today. 

53.  For cool friends who advertise my blog and tell people to read it and click on occasional ads.  Every little bit helps and feeds my ever-needy ego.

54. For my husband.  Somehow, I found the one man on the planet who understands my  particular brand of crazy, and I married him.  He’s amazing.  When he’s not immersed in his own particular brand of crazy..but I love him then too.  He’s peachy.

55. For my layoff.  I don’t always feel this way, but it’s Thanksgiving week, and my new employer realizes that family time is important, and valuable and they sent us home to be with our loved ones.  With 4 days off.  Disney says “Suck it up and be grateful that you work for the number one theme park in the world.” Choke on a turkey bone today, Mickey.  You used to close Disneyland on the occasional day of the week and holiday.  That would be SOO refreshing now, but it will never happen.

         56.  For bowling.  You class-less, white-trash past time.  You are always fun when I finally get around    to playing, you never change, except for the occasional technological advancement to the scoring system.  My kids are always enthralled, and yet you smell like beer and cigarettes.  It’s a conundrum.

57.  For the Jungle Cruise.  Because in the above item, I wanted to put “It’s a paradox”.  I miss you, Skippers.  Also Pirates, Carpet salespeople *snickers at name*, Riverboaters, Hoppers, and Mansion maids and butlers.  If there was a job I’d take for the rest of my life, it would be as your leader.  With certain people tarred and feathered and away from Disney, of course.  Let me know when this happens, please.

58. For quiet test trips on the Riverboat.  For Robert Brauchler, who was always willing to chat with me, but also respected my silence when I NEEDED that quiet test trip.

59. For Emmalie.  Always always always a big personality.  Whether Angry, Happy or Sweet, she does it ALL the way.  She was a cruise ship souvenir, the best one I ever had.  She’s a loving big sister, a member of the Harry Potter-Lady Gaga-Percy Jackson fan club.  She’s got a gravelly voice, which reminds me of a 73 year old smoker, but she’s 3.  Always a crack up.

60. For Adam Lambert.  Because when singing along with “If I had you”, this 39 year old, fat mother of 6 feels cool and hip.  Life is a party, it’s ecstasy!

61. For finding awesome deals.  Koda the ride-on dinosaur: $400 retail.  Not selling, so discounted to $200.  Two weeks before Christmas, $99.  SCORE 1 for the Kimball parents for waiting!  The girls promptly renamed him Cupcake and someone rides him nearly every day.  His battery lasted almost 2 years.  He’s now a silent dinosaur, because we are too lazy to change the battery.  I resolve (is it that time already??) to figure out how to change his battery this weekend.

62. For Discovery Toys.  Oh, DT, what a love affair I’ve had with you for 18 mind-blowing years.  There are at least 15 toys in this house that belonged to Alex, and then Bethanie, and then Casadie  and then Delanie, and then Emmalie and now or soon to be Fynnlie’s.  You make amazing things and I love you.  Even when I can’t really sell your toys to people, because inexplicably, they’d rather pay for junk at wal-mart or on craigslist and have it last 6 weeks.  You get what you pay for, and you are worth EVERY. DAMN. PENNY.   www.discoverytoys.net/jenniferkimball

63. For the Wicked soundtrack.  You introduced me to broadway soundtracks that are not Disney, and the “Defying Gravity” song was my F-you to Disney, sung at the top of my lungs for weeks on end after my layoff.  It’s also my inspirational ‘get-ready-for-an-interview’ accompaniment.

64. For Tillamook Cheddar Cheese.  Oh, you glorious brick of curdled milk, you.  HOW do you manage to be heaven on earth?  In your shredded form, I’d ditch the peachy husband and marry you.  Because I can’t, I’ll settle for occasionally completely over-indulging and shredding nearly a pound of the stuff and eating it with Ruffles.  Or stuffed all by itself into a taco shell.  Or even sprinkled over spaghetti.

65. A special thank you for Albertson’s for carrying Oregon’s Tillamook Cheese.  Just the one type, the one I love.  Don’t you DARE close your last damn store in Orlando.  I will bring some hate and hurt down on you.  Seriously.  I need me some cheese.

66. For Irene and the gang.  Pregnant with my 6^th baby, nobody throws you a baby shower at that point.  Apparently, it seems greedy.  My philosophy is..keep the gifts, but let’s at least celebrate the new life.  What do you people put in your baby books under “shower” for subsequent children?  “Not worth welcoming to the world?”  Seriously.  Irene and the gang threw me a lovely shower for Fynnlie, complete with hand-made scrapbook pages to put in an album for her.  Amazing.  Very very touched.  To the core.

67. For friends with skills.  Michael Curatolo Photography…amazing work.  He volunteered to do last-minute, desperately needed headshots for Casadie, even though his specialty is lingerie models and fashion photography.  Imagine taking your 7 year old to a photographer that specializes in nearly naked women.  He was a champ, did a lovely job and I adore the pictures of Casadie.  For Terri, also a friend, who pitched in with Casadie’s hair and make-up.  You rock, folks!

68. For the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Parade.  Best. Music. Ever. For. A. Disney. Parade.

69. For best friends.  For those no longer in contact, to those newly reconnected, and to those who have lasted nearly a lifetime and those of recent years.  You all have loved me at various points in my life, at various levels of crazy and been the crutch or sidekick I needed at the time and forevermore.

70.  For my ex-husband.  Honestly…thank you for being such an over-the-top asshole for 98% of our marriage.  Want to know why I thank you for that?  Because it allowed me to recognize Bill for what he is, simply the best man on the planet.  Otherwise, I would have taken him for granted, and that would NOT have been cool.  (Also, he did supply me with two beautiful kids, so I guess I can get un-snarky here for a minute and be genuine about that.)

71.  For my current health.  Scary stuff in 2008 definitely makes me appreciate that as much crap as I’ve done to my body over the years..(poor diet and exercise…not drugs, people..sheesh), I’m remarkably healthy and lucky. 

72. For my amazing chiropractor.  I am NOT exaggerating when I say that he completely restored my quality of life.  I envisioned myself in a wheelchair by 45, and spent a great deal of my 30’s enduring extreme pain getting in/out of chairs, cars, toilet stalls, up stairs, down stairs, walking etc.  Not only is he a miracle worker, he’s a good friend and I adore him. 

73.  For Mountains.  I’m not joking when I tell my telemarketing customers from the Northwest that I want them to wave at Mt. Hood for me.  I miss my damn mountains.  All the mountains here have roller coasters running through them, and that’s only cool for a minute.

74. For friends from around the world.  Working at Disney brought me into contact with the most diverse group of people I could ever hope to know.  From college students to retirees, from Ohio to Britain to China to Australia...my world is smaller now.  Or bigger...not quite sure how that works.   But Amy..there's always an opening as a Kimball daughter for you.  Or as a daughter-in-law...the boy is legal now! 

75. For my husband.  I monetized my blog, and he became intrigued, and he’s currently obsessed with trying to decipher all the lingo to placing ads, etc.  I’m not allowed to ask you to click on ads, but for the love of god, do Bill a favor and think about it.

Also, leave me some dialogue below.  Any of these Thankful things on YOUR list?  Any crazy things YOU'RE thankful for that you can share?  Let's make this a fun forum for all of you to play in when you stop by!

A Theme-Park Thanksgiving Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this day, as my family and I visit one of the happiest places on Earth. Today, the weather is a perfect 79 degrees with a breeze.

Please excuse me for ramming my stroller into that nice manager lady. I could tell it hurt her, but she managed to hold back tears as she pin-traded with my son.

Please help me to get a restaurant reservation for Thanksgiving dinner tonight...I know I didn't call ahead, but I didn't realize the park would be BUSY!!??!!...I thought people would be at home, eating Turkey where they belong! I really wouldn't want to offer up tonight's prayer over a Turkey Leg and french fries, but I will if I have to.

Please grant us a wish. Any wish. Ears, those lanyard thingeys...or a stay in the Castle. I really don't care which...just ANY of them. My cousin will be jealous! (ok, that's not why...well yes it is, but that can be between you and me.)

Please please please please don't let my daughter find out that they have a beauty salon in the castle!

Please grant Grandma and Uncle Joe the strength to get through the park without an ECV. They lost their driver's licenses for a reason you know. You were there.

Please give the baby the foresight not to drop her sippy cup in the middle of the parade crowds. You know she won't drink from any other cup, and this is HER LAST ONE.

Lastly Lord...please let me give my thanks to all these wonderful Cast Members/Employees who are working today. I know it must be hard being away from their family on this holiday, but it sure is nice of them to take care of mine.

~Guest (as reported by JK)