I've Been Kissed by a Rose

And her name is Thais. Twelve years ago I was twelve years old. I was visiting my aunt and best friend in California for the summer and I got a call from mom and dad. They had called to see if I would mind having a foreign exchange student live with us for a school year. I said I thought it would be great even if it was kind of random. And it turned out it was great. She was 16 and from Brazil. When she first arrived she barely spoke a word of English but soon adjusted and became part of our family. For that year I had a sister. And that is how close we got. Throughout the years after we kept in touch through letters and email. My dad got an email from her recently that she was going to be traveling to the states with her in-laws and wondered if we could come see her in Florida. My dad said of course and booked us flights, hotels, car, and tickets to Disney World to see Thais after twelve years.

It was like no time had passed. I cried when I talked to her on the phone the night before we were going to meet her at Magic Kingdom. It was crazy to hear the same voice again that was so familiar for a significant time in my life. She cried when we finally did see her again. We met her husband, his brothers and parents and spent the day in Magic Kingdom with Brazilians. All but his mom spoke English so we were able to talk and get to know each other. They were an amazing family and it was so fun getting to spend one day with them all. The next day we took Thais and her husband to Animal Kingdom for the day. I thought I needed to document this trip with some photos.

She spotted us instantly and said we all look exactly the same. I thought she did too.

After our first meeting.

Someone in a plane wrote Jesus in the sky. It was nice to see that so I thought I would take a picture.

Thais and her husband Felipe.

All of the girls.

I was showing Felipe's mom something my camera does and she thought it was really cool.

All of the boys.

Our whole group in front of the castle.

Felipe's mom made everyone try on hats and even though I think they are so creepy, they made me put the Minnie ears veil on.

Thais always told dad that he was so goofy. Thus, the photo.

At Animal Kingdom before Thais got sick on the new roller coaster.

It was so random to spend a weekend in April, in Florida, at Disney World, with Thais and her in laws. But I love that my family had this experience and created a life long relationship that is so special to all of us. The reason I quoted Seal in the title is because that song came out the year that she was here, and it always makes me think of her. We are planning a big trip to Brazil in December of 2010 to not let 12 years go by before we see her again!