The Most Powerful Weapon

                Four score and seven years ago, minus four score years, my sister and I were having a dance party in our living room to the one, the only, Hannah Montana.  We were being goofy and were in no way trying to show off our mad dance moves. Well, my sister, bless her heart, was a little off beat. As we danced, I  jokingly told her, “You can’t dance!” We laughed it off and kept the party going.  

                Years later, my sister was preparing for a gymnastics recital, when asked about performing, she said she did not want to. This was a shock. My sister was and is an amazing gymnast. After talking to her more about her feelings towards her inaugural performance, she finally told us what had been bothering her. She has always been really shy, so she quietly explained, “It’s because I can’t dance.” My mom confused at this statement questioned, “Well, who told you that?” Emma looked at me with tears in her eyes, and said, “Shayna.” Hearing my name broke my heart. I immediately got defensive.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  After she reminded me about the dance party we had had years before, I felt horrible. I felt horrible for two reasons: one, for saying it, and two, for not remembering I had said it.

                To this day I could not tell you why I felt the need to say that phrase, but I said it, not realizing the effect it would have on my future best friend. To this day, she still thinks she cannot dance. She is insecure when it comes to dancing. I have seen her stand in the back trying not to be noticed when she dances, and her not dance because she does not want people to laugh.  I have seen my careless words affect her. I have tried to fix my mistake, but the damage has been done. I had no idea that those three simple words would change her life and my life so much.

                
                That experience taught me how powerful words truly are. There are millions of words that are used to communicate. We are constantly reading them, hearing them, and speaking them. With words being so common, I think we sometimes forget the power they contain. Words honestly have the capability to change lives for the better and the worse.  

                It seems so small to tell someone their hair looks nice, or that they have a nice smile, but maybe that is exactly what they need to hear. We never know the impact we can have on somebody else. Just like I did not remember what I had said to my sister, we will not remember all the words we speak, but the recipient will. I remember once hearing the words of Mark Twain. “I can live two months on a good compliment.” That saying has always stuck with me because of the truth it contains.

                Compliments have a positive effect on people. They can change the way people see themselves and others. Giving someone a compliment is not a difficult task and it does not cost any money whatsoever. A genuine compliment is the best gift we could ever give someone. We never know the affect we can have on others with just  a few words. Just like the impact I have had on my sister. Unfortunately, my words were negative, and hurt her for years. However, positive words are just as powerful. Her life could have been different if I had just taken off the ’t and said, “You can dance!” It would not have been any harder for me to say, and it would have made all the difference.

                 We must tell each other how we feel. We must say kind words, and be nice to people. It’s a hard life, and it’s a lot harder when we try to live it by ourselves. We can help each other on our journeys by just saying friendly, simple words. We can have people live months off of our good compliments. I challenge you (and myself) to give at least one good compliment a day. I know that it will change the way we see ourselves, others, and the world. 

Planet Disneyland

I have always been a dreamer. I might sound like John Lennon when I say that, but it’s the truth. When I was younger it seems like that is all I did. I would like to say I was original and dreamed of marvelous things, but I was just as cliché then as I am now. I loved all the Disney princesses and dreamed one day I could meet them. Yes, my dream was to go to Disneyland. 

I never had the opportunity to go when I was a child. When I got the chance to go to Disneyland as a teenager, I took it. The spring break of my junior year, I went to Disneyland for the first time. It was just as magical as I could have ever hoped. I dreamed of going back.

This spring break my dream came true once again. Even though I am now technically an adult, Disneyland is still one of my favorite places in the whole word. There is magic there that I have not found anywhere else. I could tell so many stories of the wonderful time I had this week, but there is one experience that allowed me to have a terrific epiphany.

My mom, sister, and I were all standing in line at my favorite restaurant, Jolly Holiday. We were discussing what to get when the lady standing in front of us recommended the grilled cheese. We ordered, and while I was waiting in the pick-up line, I saw the same lady. “Did you end up getting the grilled cheese,” I asked. “Of course, that’s all I ever get. I work here, and whenever I get the chance I come and get a grilled cheese. They’re my favorite!” The worker at Jolly Holiday interrupted, “Leah!” Leah, the lady who I had been talking to, walked up and got her grilled cheese.  “It was nice meeting you,” I said as she walked away. At Disneyland these kinds of conversations happen all the time so I didn’t think anything of it.

I went back to sit with my mom and sister. We were talking and resting our feet after a long, exhausting day when Leah came over to the table next to us. She laughed and said, “I promise I am not stalking you. My friends are out and I told them to meet me here. They’ll be able to see me from this table.” We all laughed as she sat down to eat.

Now here is a little secret about my mom: she can talk to anyone. So we sat there waiting for the parade, while my mom started talking to Leah. We found out a lot about her; she was extremely friendly. Leah had been to Disneyland a plethora of times. She had spent many birthdays, anniversaries, and even the Y2K disaster at this magnificent place. After years of visiting, she fulfilled her dream and started working at Disneyland. She was attracted to this phenomenal land for the same reason I was. It's magical. She said she wanted to work there because she wanted to "share the magic."  

As the parade started getting closer, we figured we had better go find a seat if we wanted to see anything. Everything at Disneyland is always crowded, especially the shows. “Where is the best place to watch the parade?” My mom asked our new friend Leah. She thought for a second, got up, and said, “Hold on.” Then Leah came back to us extremely excited. “Ok, new friends! I just did something amazing. Come on!”

We followed Leah to VIP seats where we sat down to watch the parade. It was amazing! The friends that Leah had been waiting for later joined us, and I watched the most incredible parade I have ever seen with my new friends. We thanked her for "sharing the magic."

Looking at the past two spring breaks I see that they were both magical. Disneyland is just as marvelous as little Shayna imagined. Before I met Leah I liked to believe that Disneyland was really magical, but it’s not. Disneyland is full of people who like to make others feel good. It’s full of workers who are trained to share the Disney magic. This got me thinking. Why isn’t the world like Disneyland? If people have the capability to make others feel wonderful about themselves just like they do at Disneyland, why don’t we? We could all list why we don’t.

* I’m busy.

* I have somewhere to be.

* I don’t want them to think I’m weird.

* They look like they don’t want to be bothered.

* I don’t know them.

* It won’t make a difference.

* I just can’t.

All of those are valid reasons, but they are just excuses.  We all have the capability to make everyone feel wonderful. We choose to be happy and we choose who we share that happiness with. Leah taught me that it’s not hard to do something nice for others. She taught me that we are all magical. Sometimes we just don’t realize that we have so much to offer. I hope one day we can all see that we can make others’ dreams come true, that this life is full of opportunities to help others. And if you can’t see that, then maybe you need to listen to Michael Jackson when he says, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.” If we all strive to share our magic within, we can make this world a better place; we can make this world Disneyland.

The Ashley Furniture Adventure

A girl’s day. A day for just me, my sister, and my mom to bond. That was our plan today. We had a few things to do in Flagstaff, so the three of us piled into the Jeep and set off for an adventure.

Our main goal today was to buy a new car. After we test drove a grey van, the van that is now ours, my mom gave me the keys to the jeep because we all know how long it takes to purchase a new car. So now it was just me, my sister, the jeep, and a full tank of gas. We were prepared to take on the world, or I guess just Flagstaff, but still, we were ready. We got in the car, I put in the key, looked at my sister and asked, “Where to?” We started naming off all of the fun places we could go and all of the amazing things we could do within the next few hours. Then we realized we forgot one minute detail. Money. We didn’t have any money. Actually that's a lie, we had eight dollars. Dang. There went all of our great ideas. We sat there for a while thinking. After we made a new list, that would cost less than eight dollars, we set off on our adventure.

We started off strong in the magnificent Pet Co looking at all of the animals. After we saw a snake, my biggest fear, we left. Then we went to the great and astounding Home Depot. Might I remind you we only had eight dollars, so what did we do? We both designed our future home, the houses we plan on building when we have more than eight dollars. My sister and I were walking around the store talking about our plans for the rest of the day when I remembered my homework. Yup, homework, the only thing that could ruin our incredible adventure. I started to stress. There was no way I was ever going to finish everything in one night. That is when my sister thought of the most fabulous idea. She looked at me and suggested, “Why don’t we just go to that furniture store down the street and you could write your paper there?” My sister is a genius.

We headed down the street and eventually made it into the store. The employees greeted us as if we were really interested in buying furniture. After our butts had touched just about every couch and we had laid on about half the beds, we found the most comfortable bed. We laid down, made ourselves at home, and I wrote my paper. The employees, who were slightly annoyed because off our boisterous laughs, kept asking how we were doing and if we needed any help, even though they knew we were not planning on buying anything that day. Legitimate costumers kept giving us the stink eye as they walked past us. My sister, who has the same attention span as a gold fish, kept going chair to chair, bed to bed, looking at all of the furniture, and taking pictures of her favorites to show me. While she did this, I laid in the same bed writing the same paper. I know, this sounds completely boring, and at first I was bummed that our super fun day was ruined, but it wasn’t boring at all. We had the best time!

Lying in that bed today getting horrible, dirty looks from just about everyone in that store I realized how much I love my sister. When we were younger she was just my younger, annoying sister, but as the years have gone on I’ve realized that she’s not only my sister, but my best friend as well. She’s the only person I can ride in a car with and can sing, or more like scream, every word to “I’ll make love to you” by Boyz II Men. She’s the only person who will commit to a diet with me and then watch a three hour long movie while eating all the junk food in the entire house. She’s the only person who I can laugh with until I cry and cry with until I laugh. My sister is the only person who knows what I am thinking before I do. We like to play a game where when we have a conversation, we don't finish the last few words of our sentences. We'll do this shopping, cleaning, or even watching TV. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it is so much fun. On a more serious note, she is also one of my best teachers. Me being the older sister, I feel like I should be the one teaching her, but that is rarely the case. She is constantly teaching me how to have genuine fun and how to truly love life. She has taught me to live in the moment and to not stress about things that will not matter in the future. She has taught me to love myself just the way I am, to have confidence in myself. She may be young, but she's full of wisdom; she never ceases to amaze me. She truly is one of my biggest blessings.

So our wonderful adventure was spent in a furniture store. But there we lay, side by side, not talking, looking at our phones, as we listened to some old '90s rock band playing on the speakers, and being judged by costumers and workers. But I laid there and was completely content because I was spending time with my best friend.