February 17, 2013: Kindness, pass it on.

Today, at 1:00PM I invite all of you to Button Auditorium on the campus of Morehead State University where our son, Matt, is performing as the First Chair Tenor Saxophone in the # 1 band at the Morehead Honor Band Clinic. There are four bands in total and each has it’s own program. It is a wonderful performance.

Hey, Frankie baby, it’s My Way Day. You know, at Walt Disney World, you get Magic Your Way tickets. That should be enough reason for anyone to visit but you get the feel of the Frank Sinatra era of music at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s a wonderful place to go, hang out, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the Streetmosphere performers around the park. To me Hollywood Studios is as much an attraction as any single attraction at the park.

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day. We have been part of so many random acts of kindness at Walt Disney World, both on the receiving end and giving end. We were walking through the Magic Kingdom when some cast members stopped us and gave us a gigantic ice cream sundae, we were driving in the parking lot of the Magic Kingdom when we were stopped and award the Parking Lot Family of the Day Award and of course, the now famous, fist full of Fast Passes but we have been on the giving end of a few random acts of kindness.

One night at the Magic Kingdom, we were waiting on Main Street, USA for Wishes to begin when we struck up a conversation with a lady and her husband who had been to Walt Disney World at least once per year, every year since the resort opened. She was there when it was just the Polynesian, the Contemporary and the Magic Kingdom. In the conversation she noticed the Mickey Mouse wedding bands that the wife and I wear and she commented that as many times as she had been to WDW that she had never gotten jewelry. My son, Matt, took a pin off his lanyard, gave it to her, and said, “Now you can say someone gave you jewelry at Walt Disney World.” She accepted his pin with tears in her eyes. I don’t remember her name but we do have the picture below to remind us of the event and I appreciate the chance she gave us to see the loving, giving side of our son.

The other story I want to share involves a bus ride from Pop Century to Disney Hollywood Studios on our last trip to WDW, June 2012. On this morning a little girl was having a rough morning, she was crying, obviously having a rough day. As wonderful as WDW is it can be taxing on the most mature of us much less the smallest. I slipped a Minnie Mouse pin off my lanyard and as we got off the bus, I looked at her parents and asked if I could give her a gift. They said it was okay and I gave her the Minnie Mouse pin to match the pretty shirt she had on. She grinned from ear to ear. Later, we were standing in front of Hollywood and Vine, waiting to hit the buffet, and I saw the little girl riding on dad’s shoulders with a new lanyard around her neck and her Minnie Mouse pin prominently displayed.

Remember, your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true.