All I can say is-WOW!
I've realized over the past few years that I have a very outgoing little girl on my hands. What I never expected was to have a friend contact me to let me know that someone was trying to reach out to our little family on a Disney message board.
All because my little girl loves to chat up a storm!
And because of that one special family with the sweetest little boy that you could ever meet, another wonderful couple who just celebrated a most special anniversary came out of nowhere and admitted to meeting us, too!
WOW!
I said that already, didn't I?
I showed this to Miss Renee, and she was beyond thrilled to see that her new friends were looking for her. Please feel free to PM me, and this time, we'll be sure not to forget to exchange addresses!
Since I've got the photos all ready to go, I hope you won't mind if I share them-along with the little story that goes along with them.
After meeting Evan and his Mom and Dad on the bus to MGM, we spent a good portion of the morning together. Here are the two little buddies...
Evan is the sweetest little guy that our family has ever met, and I'm sure it's because of his Mom and Dad. They are really great people, and Renee took to all of them instantly.
She didn't even want to leave Evan's side to eat her favorite type of lunch- Italian, because she is part Italian, you know (words right from her little mouth!) It took some major pleading to get the two of them seperated!
As bounceliketigger mentioned, we never managed to meet up with one another at the pool. Renee was pretty bummed about that, and continues to remind me about it each and every time she sees his little shining face in our vacation photos!
The one thing that makes her happy though is remembering that she gave him her special ring. The ring that 'Miss Bubbles' the movie star from MGM-who also loves purple, mashed potatoes, and puppies-gave her because she and Renee were 'best friends forever'.
She keeps reminding me that even though Evan is a 'little guy', that he was her best friend for half of a day, and so the gifting of the special ring. I tell her that she's correct-anyone who decides at the spur of the moment to spend their morning with you is guaranteed best friend material-absolutely!
Simply put, the bounceliketigger family could have made any excuse not to accept Miss Renee's invitation to see MGM with her. Instead, they shared their morning with our family, and that made our little girl very happy. Good people in our books...
And SharBear4 and her husband are also spoken about every single day in the Badelves house! Watching you share your pasta just like Lady and Tramp did was the highlight of her last day. She didn't need Disney characters-she had the real thing right in front of her!
You know what it's like when you have to leave Disney. It's the most horrible feeling just knowing that just after lunch, you have to get in the car and drive back home-and that's what the grown-ups are thinking! I think that we need to multiply that by 10 for a little one, and for her, sharing in your happiness at that moment just took away the sadness of leaving. Here is the happy couple with the Princess 'who loves Jasmine the most'...
Mark and I were so touched that this loving couple went out of their way to include Renee in their special moment. They could have said hello and kept to themselves, but they went out of their way to make a little girl smile and laugh.
And that kindness helped a Mommy and Daddy, stressed out because of their long distance relocation, smile at a moment when they felt like crying...
I know that this isn't the Trip Report board, and this probably is looking like a mini Trip Report right now. I'm sorry-please forgive me for that.
What it ultimately comes down to are the experiences we've been able to share as a family, and the wonderful folks we've had the pleasure of meeting because of our
DVC. If we didn't make that leap to just 'trust our instincts', our family would never have had the chance to have our lives touched by some really great people.
Sure, we may have crossed paths even if we were staying at another WDW Resort, but somehow I have the feeling that we would have been too busy just trying to cram every little last bit in.
You know, just
NOT stopping to enjoy the moment.
That is one of the best things that has happened to us. We have been able to slow down and take in all of the 'little things'. It sounds a bit sappy, but the folks we have met -cast members included!- are one of those benefits of DVC that aren't mentioned on all of the glossy advertising material.
Miss Renee's tip of the day?
"If you like to meet new people, just open your mouth and start talking! And don't forget to smile, because mean people can't frown at a smile. Oh, and don't forget to become a DVC member!"
Out of the mouth of babes....
I just sent badelves a PM. And I just want to thank bounceliketigger for posting that thread! It was a thought in my mind but I hadn't done it, so thank you!! Because of you and mckryan we found Renee and her family! 
