Wish Child Julia

Date: May-June 2014

My ‘Wish Partner’, Kiran, and I had not gotten off to a good start with our first wish.  This had led to that wish being put on hold and as such we had been assigned a new ‘Wish Child’ as well as a new ”Mentor”.  The name of the child was Julia, a lovely 13 year old girl.  We had to schedule a visit with the family and so I tried calling her mom with no luck, leaving a message at each instance.  We had been told the importance of patience and that the family may not respond in a timely fashion.  However my partner was able to reach her and then it was a question of 4 parties – me, my partner, our mentor and most importantly, the family – finding a common time for us to schedule a visit.  This was a task far more difficult than organizing a ‘G-20’ summit.

We finally found a day in May and my partner and I met our mentor, Bridget, at a coffee shop in the neighborhood where the family lived.  Our little girl was a fan of cupcakes and just had a birthday recently.  So I thought that it would be a good idea to get her a cupcake.  I left my colleagues in the coffee shop and went to a nearby ‘Jewel’ to find something, but to no avail.  I came back and admitted defeat, only to realize that the coffee shop that we were at had some nice cupcakes!  We got one and proceeded to the family’s place.  We arrived and were greeted by Julia, her mom and their 3-year old enthusiastic dog, Bella.  

We sat around the kitchen table and started conversing with Julia to get to know her better.  It was clear that she was popular in her school, since her classmates had made her a giant “Happy Birthday” banner that was hanging behind us.  We learned that she was a big fan of the movie ‘Frozen’ and like any other girl, loved pink.  That was evident from her clothes and the color of her spectacles frame.  Her other passion was water and she talked about some activities like surfing or swimming with the dolphins.  Bridget told us and the family various options that they had as far as ‘Disney’ was concerned, such as ‘Disney World’ in Orlando and ‘Disney Land’ in Los Angeles.  Plus there was a new ‘Disney’ resort in Hawaii that would give the family an option to do the water based activities that Julia desired.  It was looking like she was leaning towards that one as her eyes lit up when she heard about the possibilities.  We filled out the forms and said that we would get back to them as soon as we had met with MAW, and had more information on the options.  We left after a good meeting and it had been nice to meet Julia and her mom.

Next day I called Amy, the ‘Wish Manager’ at MAW and made an appointment to go over to their offices for a meeting.  I met Amy at MAW and she confirmed that they could do any of the options that we had discussed and that she would send me additional information on each, though it was clear that ‘Disney Aulani’ in Hawaii was everything Julia was looking for.  She could stay in a resort surrounded by ‘Disney’ themes and then either do a ‘Dolphin Encounter’ or Surfing lessons.  Talk about having your cake and eating it…with ice cream.

A 'Frozen' lunchbox for Julia

We scheduled a follow-up meeting with the family to discuss these options and as an enhancement; I went to the ‘Disney Store’ and picked up a Lunch Box with a ‘Frozen’ theme.  We decided to meet directly at the family residence and I arrived to see that Kiran and Bridget were already there.  We were greeted by Julia and little Bella and besides her mom; her dad was present as well.  One of the things that I noticed was the comfort level that Julia’s mom felt with us and she was visibly more relaxed.  I took it as a positive sign that we had managed to build that trust.  People find it hard to believe that others are willing to help them and so you just have to do it.  Julia loved our present and her mom said that she would be taking it with her to school.  We told Julia what we had learnt about ‘Disney Aulani’ and she was truly excited. 

We presented the two activities that they wanted to do and MAW would actually pay for one of them.  There was a provision that they could do the other one at their own cost and Julia’s mom said that would be willing to do it.  They also said that they could be flexible in their travel dates and even wait a year if it meant they get to go there.  I asked Julia what she would do if she saw ‘Frozen’ characters walking about in the resort.  “I would die”, she said with delight, as only a teenager can.  Last time that we were here, we had learned of Julia’s crush on a boy in school.  I asked her about him and she blushed deeply and hid behind a chair while saying, “I am going to go now”.  We left safe in the knowledge that Julia was going to get whatever she wanted.  Hey, she was going to a ‘Disney’ resort and swim with the dolphins!  MAW got to work and had soon scheduled Julia’s visit for April of 2015.  I for one can’t wait to see this one being fulfilled.