Haunted by my Disney Ghost

As the Haunted Mansion ride in the Magic Kingdom comes to an end, an eerie ghost whispered in my ear, "A ghost will follow you home! HAHAHAHA!" Spooky as it was, I can assure you that I did not believe this to be true. At least, not until now.

Now I'm not talking about having an immortal spirit that haunts my dreams, for this ghost is more than welcome to follow me. She reminds me of the wonderful experience that I was so blesssed to have. She shows herself to me when I gaze upon something Disney related. She brings the memories of my past as I sit down to write my memoir. She pops up when when a Disney commercial comes on. She even surprised me the other day when I was in JCPenney and the song "Good Life" came on! Even in the most unexpected places, she'll show up to put a smile on my face.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking, and I know that it's not a good idea to live in the past. I've been told that many times. But you see, it's not just the past that haunts me. It's also the hope of returning. Such a big part of me was left in Orlando FL., and I will always think of it as home.

Since my return to Michigan, I have had wonderful opportnities to keep these Disney dreams alive. I was privileged to see Mary Poppins on tour, which, in a word, was AMAZING! I also went to a symphony that played all sorts of music from Disney, and saw an amatuer (but VERY good) theater group perform a production of Beauty and the Beast.

So you see, a ghost DID follow me home. I'm glad she did and I hope she stays!

Timeline will tell

Facebook. All of us have it. It is a wonderful way to keep us close to our friends and family no matter how near or how far they may be. Starting in 2004 in a college student's dorm room, it quickly grew and transfomed into the largest social network in the world. People were instantly hooked on the website. It was the new "drug" sweeping the nation. But, after a while, Facebook decided to change and change often, forcing us into new layouts that very few of us liked. Then, it hit Timeline.

As many of you know, this new thing called "Timeline" is sweeping over this Facebook-obsessed nation. This is a way for you to build, tear-down, organize, and reveal everything about your life that you wish your friends to know. Some of you still may not have Timeline as you have had the option to switch over, but I did not have that option, and was bummed about it.

I posted several weeks ago as my status, "If Facebook forces me into switching to Timeline, I will quickly delete my account." I said this out of fear after hearing the horror stories of people who have made the switch, and everything they had posted since joining the social network had been exposed to the public. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions and being pessimistic about it all, but I'm still not completely comfortable with it. In the past, random people have somehow found me on Facebook and sent me messages that scared me into thinking that my profile was a public viewing site. I quickly rummaged through my privacy settings and hid as much of my profile as I possibly could.

Those of you who are my friends on Facebook realize that I am not one who posts two or three statuses a day. I love to let you all in my life and show you my many adventures and my photography, but there is a line that I will not cross. When situations arise in my life, I am very careful not to post personal opinions or anger and frustation. I have done this on very rare occassions, and within good taste. I don't want people to think I am perfect. I too struggle every now and then, but that does not justify making my personal life a public discussion.

So, now that my past has been brought back to life by this new Timeline, I aim to move forward with caution, as I am tredding on rocky grounds. I love to be able to share many moments of my happy life, but will not be made into a public spectacle. Should I find that all the 800 million Facebook users can click random things on my profile such as my posts and statuses, I will quickly delete my account. Until then, I have decided to give it a try.