stories from my sass pants: our last day at GKTW Village....

Today was our last day at the village and I can’t believe it is already all over. We started the day off by having the morning free so some of the girls went to the pool and the other half stayed at the house. Since we had made a stop at Wal-Mart a few nights ago and everyone bought yarn, we decided to have an arm knitting party! Jess, Sarah, Bayli, Emily, Bri and myself all hung out on the couch and made scarves with each other’s help and encouragement. They turned out pretty cute and it seems like we all found a new hobby possibly!

Anyway, we made our way back to the village early in the afternoon to do any last bit of exploring, picture taking and shopping in the gift shop. We each had two shifts for the day and my first shift was at the Welcome Hut by myself. I was a bit leery at first because it was my first week at the Village and I was nervous to be the first person that some of the families and kids meet when entering the Village! After a quick training, I was left on my own for three hours and an hour and a half in, Bri came to relieve me and switch her for the pool shift. Well that was short lived because a staff member came marching over and told us, “there’s no switching shifts in the middle of the assigned times because if one of your families had an emergency at home and called here, we wouldn’t know where to find you if you’re scheduled at the pool but are actually at the welcome hut. So I’m going to escort you back to the pool…” Guess we were going to be breaking some rules if we tried to do a little switching around! But that’s okay because being in the Welcome Hut turned out to be a lot of fun! I met four different families who had just arrived to Florida for their Wish Trip and were coming to the Village for the first time. It was awesome hearing where they came from and what they were most excited for during their vacation and then hyping up the village and getting them really pumped up for the week! It gave me a good feeling knowing that I was one of the first faces they met at the Village and gave them a good impression and hopefully set their week up to be a good one!

Once my shift ended at the Welcome Hut, I went straight to the Winter Wonderland orientation and training. This is the biggest event and night for the Village so it’s the main focus of the whole day. While I was hanging out at the Welcome Hut, everyone else had been setting up the decorations for Winter Wonderland for five hours! All of the Christmas decorations were incredible and a lot of fun to see in March…I especially loved the Christmas music playing all day! I got assigned to the cookie decorating station with two girls from a college in St. Petersburg and a local woman from Orlando. I really enjoyed getting to know them and hanging out with them while helping the kids and some parents decorate cookies. Later in the night, a parade came through the village and it led to the big open area in front of Amberville where it started to snow in the village and there was a dance party. This seriously brought tears to my eyes! Seeing some of the kids going crazy over watching the snow falling and dancing to the music was so sweet and a moment I know I will always treasure. When the kids would come decorate cookies, they showed off what they received from Santa and would talk about the snow and they would just be smiling from ear to ear. It was such a rewarding and heartwarming last night at the Village! Before leaving the Village, I took a moment to look around and just take it all in. The sights and sounds and smells and I wish I could bottle it up to remember every piece of it.

Before going back to the house for the night, we made one quick pit stop at a corner carnival type thing so some of the girls could go on some rides that were called “Vomatron” and “SlingShot.” I had no desire to go on either ride and was scared just watching them all be shot into the air but they all survived! We got home and everyone packed then helped clean up the house since we were going to be getting such an early start the next morning on our drive to Nashville. Once I was done packing and cleaning, I stayed up late with Jess and Emily just chatting while they both made another arm-knitted scarf…it’s an addicting hobby!

High for the day: greeting the Wish child and their family as they entered the village and getting to know them a little bit. Another high was watching the Winter Wonderland and the pure joy and happiness that each child had across their face with not a single care or worry in the world.

Low for the day: being in the Welcome Hut by myself! It wasn’t that bad but there were a few times where I felt like I was missing out on what was happening inside the Village and was bummed to not be spending our last afternoon with everyone!