Traveling Man

From North Carolina to Florida to North Carolina to South Carolina to California to South Carolina to North Carolina to Florida, this month has been wild! Did you catch all that? This has been a very busy month indeed. I completed my Disney training and was immediately on my way to Annual Training (AT) with the marines for two weeks. We got back and now I am completing my first official week as a fully trained Walt Disney World lifeguard.

After moving down here to Florida, I was here for just under two weeks completing my Disney training (the previous post goes into what that involved). I had three days of on the job training at the Contemporary Resort which went very well. Immediately following training I was waking up early and on the road to North Carolina. I arrived in North Carolina to pick up my marine gear from camp where my good friend Cal so generously stored it for me. After a long day of traveling I arrived in Greenville to sleep and start an early day of traveling. 

I woke up at 3am and started the trek to California. We met at the unit and were shuttled to the airport. We flew from Greenville to California with only one layover. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating hotdogs and hanging out at the USO before our bus arrived to take us to Twentynine Palms. A long while later (around midnight [3am EST]) we arrived at Camp Wilson and went straight to tent city. I didn’t even brush my teeth or pull out a blanket. I dropped my gear and crashed on the floor. 

When we finally got to the FASP (see my California post for more on Twentynine Palms), we hit the ground running. Of course we had no support from our battalion, but that’s another story for another time. I was the Records Chief in charge of all record keeping for ammunition on deck. It was a good job, but more difficult at night with only a headlamp. We were visited by a one-star General and I was privileged to speak to him. He even gave me a challenge coin! Once our next group of marines arrived we put them to work right away. It was definitely nice to start handing off the baton. We started our trip home on a Tuesday afternoon and didn’t land in Greenville until 11:30pm Wednesday. Such a long trip! Funny story: three of us missed our connecting flight in Charlotte. Thankfully they had a later flight that we were put on. I arrived at camp at 1:30am and crashed hard!

Big thanks to Cal for letting me crash in his basement. I was so exhausted that I was asleep before I was finished setting my alarm. Cal ended up waking me up around lunch time. It was nice to go to lunch and see a bunch of friends at camp. I did, however, need to grab the remainder of my stuff from camp and start heading to Florida. I left North Carolina and made the long trek back to Florida around 2:30pm. Thankfully I was scheduled to have the next couple days off in which I slept REALLY well. Then of course I went straight to Universal Studios to play. Living in Orlando is pretty cool.

SIDE NOTE: I was not in Orlando during any of the tragic events that occurred.

I am completing my first official week of work tonight. This week has been tiring, but it has been good. Being full-time gives me primarily morning shifts (which I prefer). My hours are normally 9:30am to 5pm. Twice a month I will have in service training (IST) to keep up with my guarding license. There have been a lot of places in which I have guarded, but this is by far the most stressful place in which I have guarded. The most stressful part is that I work for Disney and there are a lot of children. I am attached to the Disney name and if anything happens on my watch then I am held accountable for such events and for any negative publicity the company may receive. Maybe I think too much on that. The bright side of that mentality is that it keeps me vigilant. I’m not getting fired. Not toDAAAAY.

Still no word on my apartment. Hopefully within the next week or two I will have a move-in date set. Not excited about the rent,  but excited to have a place! Right now my schedule has me working on Sundays so I haven’t been able to go back to Calvary yet. If anything, I might try to find a congregation closer so I can go in the evening after work on Sundays (for now). Once I have my apartment all settled then I will be able to share my address. Comment, email, or text me if you are interested in knowing my new address. I have been making friends with coworkers. Some will remain simply coworkers, but others I have gotten along with really well. If any of you are visiting Disney World or Universal Studios, be sure to contact me! I have admission to both places any time. It’s been great getting to catch up with old friends already. Thanks for those who are praying and keeping up with me. Come visit! Until next time: Be strong. Love God. Love others.

rejoice.always