We will be friends until forever, just you wait and see

Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave 

- Winnie The Pooh 

The great thing about Orlando was that there is always something fun to do with people. Instead of merely "catching up", we did stuff. Fun stuff. So often in my world, I find myself working or at school for the whole week and then when I do get to see my friends, we sit down and talk about work and everything we've done in our busy week. It's like we live mostly separate from each other and only get to tell people about our lives. Not live them with each other. 

You jerks. This is me in the Princess Parade

At Disney World there were the theme parks: rides, characters and food. On my birthday, my friends and I tried "character dining" at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (Norway) in Epcot. The Disney princesses visited each table at lunch and paraded around the restaurant to music with all the little girls. My friends thought it would be funny for me to be in the parade, so they suggested it to Sleeping Beauty who immediately dumped her bouquet of flowers into my lap and demanded that I take part in the parade, before she danced off and I was forced to follow her... Around the whole restaurant... With all the little kids. Parades were part of my job in Entertainment at Disney World. During shifts and in full costume, I would wave at children and dance with them and they would be star-struck and overjoyed. In this parade on my birthday, I was not in costume and I was not part of the Disney show. I was just me. I tried to hold the hand of the little girl behind me but she ignored me. I waved at a kid in the crowd and he cried. 

It rained heavily after lunch and we spent an hour trapped in the German glass/crystal store trying to escape the rain. When it finally eased, we emerged relatively dry and wandered around the Park only to be caught right in the path of a random tantrum thrown by the gigantic fountain near the entrance of Epcot. The attack was the size of a tsunami and the effect was four girls drenched in dirty theme park water from head-to-toe, to the amusement of at least one passer by who stopped and laughed - a little too hard, if you ask me.

I will never forget the night that my American friend let me drive his car home from a restaurant. It was only a short five minute drive with three turns, but it required me to turn out onto busy main roads in the dark and I had never driven on the opposite side of the road before. I drove with deep concentration and just as I was turning into the carpark of my final destination (and I was silently celebrating my win in American driving) I instinctively turned into the left lane and heard the yells of my three passengers: "WRONG LANE, WRONG LANE, WRONG LANE!" Luckily, there were no other cars but it was a shock. When we got out of the car I said to my friend, "Don't ever let me drive your car again" to which he replied very seriously, "Okay." But I have received a letter from him since that said "I loved it when you drove my car." :)

When Magic Kingdom was open for 24 hours straight to celebrate the leap day, my training buddy Sharleen and I hung out until about 2am doing all sorts of things which included joining a big conga line at the Castle Dance Party. I fell over in the conga line. Like, I tripped on a crack in the pavement and stacked it in front of everybody and brought the line down with me. I also think I twisted my ankle. 

My friend Tyson and I often ended up at the gym together on neighbouring cross-trainers in the far corner of the Chatham gym. We shared an obsession with food and weakness for all things chocolate and fatty, which required a serious dedication to exercise.  Tyson worked as a guide at the Maharajah Jungle Trek at Animal Kingdom. He tells people about the tigers and other animals you can see on the trail. One day when we were on the cross-trainer, he told me that a lady had approached him on the Jungle Trek and said, "So... lions are boys and tigers are girls right?" All credit to him because he kept a completely straight face and explained that lions and tigers are two different species. Then the lady's four-year-old son pipes in, "Mom, mom! Lions can be boys and girls because Simba marries Nala!" Yep.

In Melbourne: We still hang out!

There are many more stories that I want to write about. Maybe I will get to it eventually. I don't know who would be interested, but I guess it would be cool to read back on this in years to come and be reminded of the moments that made me happy. The experiences that added value to my life. Not that any of them are in itself impressive or interesting, except for the fact that I did them with you.

When I began this journey, I was starting to believe that friendships were fleeting and that people eventually leave. But this restored my faith in people and friendships and fun. Even though I find myself 9732 miles from Orlando and distance is a perfectly acceptable reason to lose touch with friends, we are still a part of each other's lives... and we've committed to be. Thank God for technology - for phones, Skype and letters... I now believe that the people who want to stay in your life will always find a way. Thank you to every person who has been part of this journey and the incredible memories that I will keep close to my heart for the rest of my life.