The Countdown to the End

Expect it, but embrace it...

     As my days become less and less, it begins to sink in more and more that leaving is inevitable and I will miss everything about my CP so much. It has been 4 months of a working vacation, minimal responsibilities, amazing friends and nothing but fun. What's most upsetting is how close I have become with my fellow CPs from Port Orleans in the last month. Sure we talked at work, but it wasn't until December that we all started becoming best friends, went to the parks together and now it's all ending. I have to try and squeeze so much into such a small amount of time to take advantage of the time I have left with these friends and it's bittersweet.

     It becomes more and more apparent as the days dwindle that each time I'm in one of the parks could be my last, I don't know when I will be back at Disney to have as much fun as I have had these past 4 months. Knowing this, I capitalized on every opportunity I had, to do the parks with as many of my friends as possible and the last two weeks of my program were my best. I went to the parks before work, after work, on all my days off and made the effort to do them with as many friends as possible. At this point I realized I did not know if or when I would see these people again, so I didn't want to regret anything during my final days.

     Even with the days dwindling though, they are becoming some of the best days I have had since I got to Disney. Work is even more fun because, knowing we are all leaving soon, we are just having fun getting to work with each other everyday and making the most of it. We have all started looking forward to our final days of work because we know we will be spending time with each other and we know how to make work almost as fun as being at the parks together.

     I will also be real, expect the waterworks to flow during this time because the floodgates opened when the days became numbered. Especially with my co workers, specifically around Christmas when we were missing our families and accepting we were leaving, we were all upset. Tears were shed at work quite often. But, having each other around, knowing we were all feeling the same way gave everyone comfort, we could all relate. To relieve some of the depression we went bowling after work on Christmas Eve, and it really brought us close together and we forgot about how much we missed our families.

       I remember one of my final days off, I ended up at EPCOT that evening on my own because everyone had work. This night was for me, I went to Morocco for dinner, finally went to see The American Adventure for the first time and when I exited, I lost it. Walking through World Showcase talking to my mom on the phone, within minutes I was sitting between China and Norway bawling to my mom about how hard it is to leave. The friends I made here are the best I've ever had and leaving them and all the fun behind is not easy. When I finally pulled myself together, I went to The Seas and walked around before watching Illuminations one last time.

     After all of that, I knew I still had about a week left until my departure. And with plans nearly all these days, I could still look back at my CP and know I had no regrets and made the most of my time here.