Family

Forgive the lengthy lapse is writing, but I have been a-goin' like gangbusters and I'm fresh off nearly a week-long staycation. Some of my Italian cousins were in town and I took off a couple of days while they were here as well as spent part of last weekend with them at Disneyland. Yes. I once swore I would never go to Disneyland again. I'm not a big amusement park person anymore, but my last trip there in 2006 was a massively VIP version that I could never top......free entry, getting to go into Walt Disney's apartment and then ride in the private train car named after his wife, a VIP pass to pretty much cut in line, and a free gargantuan lunch at the Blue Bayou....all courtesy of the VP of Communications.

But truly, this time was fun because it was like a mini family reunion, and I've always wished I had a family who actually had family reunions. I have a large family, but kind of feel unrelated to anyone since most of them are on the east coast and there are no huge efforts to connect on any of our parts. Anyway, 14 Italians trying to make decisions and stay together at Disneyland is hysterical itself, but the jokes were flying non-stop.......so much so that another person in line at Big Thunder Mountain commented "Now THAT'S a fun family!" as we passed by. We had all been to Disney World together back in the 80's as kids and now here we were as adults, some with our own kids, reliving old times. A gift.

It was my cousin Jeff's 40th and his wife really wanted to make it special. They are Disney fanatics, so of course the actual birthday had to be spent there, but in the course of planning, my aunt decided to fly in and several other cousins drove in to surprise him. The surprise was ruined early on when someone slipped up, but I figure a surprise is a surprise whenever you find out about it. I was also able to arrange a private tour of the Disney Studio lot with an animator friend of mine, where they got to go into Walt Disney's old offices (they passed Stan Lee in the hallway!), traverse the underground tunnels beneath the studios, watch animators working on one of their kids' favorite cartoons, visit the archives, and eat in the commissary. After that we headed to Paramount Studios, where my board president, the VP of Security for Paramount, gave them a private tour in a giant golf cart. He inundated them with some awesome movie swag and made frequent stops so they could take all the pictures they wanted. Truly a special day and I am so grateful to know the kinds of people who are willing to do things like this for my family.

We also went to Jay Leno, the Groundlings, toured the police station, and drove around to various hotspots because Jeff wanted to try and have a brush with a celebrity (poor Jeff - foiled again - except for Stan Lee. His sister Lindsey saw an actor from one of her favorite movies, though). The final day together we went to The Price is Right while my incredible mother watched the kids all day and then made us what will go down in history as "THE BEST LASAGNA EVER!"

Jeff's final surprise was a Skywalker Ranch t-shirt signed by the voice actors from Clone Wars. A friend of mine is the voice of Obi Wan Kenobi and Jeff.....well let's just say Jeff is the ultimate Star Wars fan. He has a room dedicated to all of his memorabilia. I love when people are especially passionate about something, even when it's not a passion I share. It's so much easier and more fun to give gifts to people like that. His reaction was well worth it!

Anyway, stay tuned for a ginormous post on the horizon. It will be a multi-parter....