Epcot Mystery Prince

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

Alright, when have I ever not shared something deeply personal on this blog? I mean, that's pretty much all Taylor Talks is, right? Personal stories, my opinions, my daily life... yet something happened that I haven't quite shared here yet. In all honesty, I wasn't sure if I would end up sharing it here. I mean, family and friends read this blog, and I think that sharing some things with people you actually know is a lot scarier than sharing with people you've never met before. But a new group of friends, people who I've never even met, strangely enough, have impacted my life dramatically over the past few days, and I've decided to let my walls down for once and let life take control.

Here's my story...

On Wednesday, I was at work all day. It started out just like any other day at Epcot, but it turned into a day that I'll never forget.

Things had slowed down in the afternoon. I walked up to the podium to mention something to a co-worker. As we were standing there talking, a guy came up and said, "Excuse me."

Guests come up to speak to us all of the time. I pretty much always know what questions we're going to get, and I had an assumption in my head almost immediately as to what this Guest needed. Wow, was I wrong.

What followed was something that I have never experienced before. This guy said, "I'm sorry, you're just really pretty and I was wondering if I can get your phone number."

To me. He said this to me.

Well I don't know who was more shocked, me or the friend with whom I was standing. She immediately looked down at the computer and tried to pretend that she wasn't there. If I could have done the same, I probably would have.

Instead, what came next was the most awkward moment of my entire life. I mean, not only was I at work and expecting an entirely different question, but I had never been asked for my phone number before, let alone been told that I was pretty by a guy! I froze. I panicked. I couldn't form rational thoughts in my head.

I said, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," for a really long time.

This guy quickly said, "Oh, no, it's okay," and turned to leave.

I stopped him though. "No, no, I'm sorry! It's just, uh, I mean, I don't think that we're allowed to give our phone numbers to Guests."

He said that he understood and nodded.

I thanked him though. "Thank you so much though, I mean, that was so sweet, thank you, really." I couldn't stop fumbling my words. I was lucky I got anything out at all.

Then the mystery guy left. I didn't get a name, we didn't exchange numbers, nothing. Just like that, it was over. But, wow, did I think about this conversation nonstop for the rest of the night.

By the time I had gotten off of work and made my way back to the car seven hours later, I still couldn't get over what had happened. I felt awful for the way I had handled the situation. I was so incredibly awkward and I wished that I could have let that guy know that it was absolutely nothing against him.

So I started writing. I pulled up the notes app on my phone and typed out this whole message that I wished I could give to that guy. But of course, I don't know who he is, so I couldn't give it to him. So what did I do? Well, I kind of think I lost my mind... I decided to post my message on a Disney group to which I belong on Facebook.

Here's the thing though, because I guess there was some shred of sanity in this decision. I've actually met someone before, while at work, who also belongs to this group. There's over 100,000 people in this group, I believe, so who knew? Maybe somehow, by some chance, this mystery guy was part of the group too. So I shared my thoughts and then set off to drive home for the evening.

Here's where life took an unexpected turn... in less than 48 hours, my post had received more attention than I've ever received anywhere on social media before. There have been over 1.4 thousand reactions to the post (likes, loves, etc.) and over 350 comments. It has been just a little over 48 hours and the numbers keep growing. It was, and still is, completely shocking. But even more shocking is what the actual comments have said. Things like, "You are beautiful," and "This could be a movie," and "We need to find this Prince Charming," have been a common theme throughout the comments. I can't believe it still!

Let me share my original post so everyone understands...

So there you have it. I didn't think much of it when I was writing it out. I just needed to get my feelings down and I almost didn't even post it in the group. I have no idea what compelled me to actually go through with that. But so much good has come out of this.

As I commented on the post this morning,
"I never expected this kind of reaction. When I wrote this post, I was sitting in my car after leaving work for the day. As I often do when I'm not ready for my hour drive home, I was sitting and playing on my phone. I pulled up my notes app and started typing out what came to be this post. I didn't originally plan on sharing this with anyone; I just needed to get out my thoughts.

As a writer, I often find myself writing out my feelings as a way to clear my mind. I felt guilty about my awkwardness. I had never been told that I was pretty before and had never been asked out or asked for my phone number. In the moment, I was lucky that I formed any words at all. After I could collect myself once this mystery guy had left my location, I found myself thinking of twenty different ways I could have handled the situation. Even if I wasn't sure about giving someone my phone number (with the assumption that it was for the purposes of a date or something), I could have given him my email, or asked for his name, or any number of other things. So I started writing. In the end, I decided to share my thoughts with this incredible group because, hey, what if? What if he happened to be part of this group? I've met someone from this group at work before, so it's not as if it never happens. At least if he saw this post, then he could know why I reacted the way I did. So I shared it here.

Wow, was I shocked by the reaction! I wasn't looking for my Prince Charming. I wasn't looking for a confidence boost or to see if anyone else thought I was pretty (because, I hate to admit it after all of your kind words, but I'm still kind of shocked that anyone would think I was pretty in the first place... I don't think I take compliments very well haha). I wasn't trying to get 1,000 likes or make my story go viral. It just kind of happened."

So here we are now... I had so many people ask if I could re-post my original message publicly so that they could share it outside of our group. I believe that many of them are looking for that fairy tale ending, the one where we find this mystery guy and he becomes my Prince Charming. I don't know if that's what I'm looking for, because honestly, I know absolutely nothing about this guy. I also don't know if I'm ready to take the plunge and give a guy my phone number. But I think it would be really cool to get my message back to him so he knows that I'm not always such an awkward person and that I was just totally caught off-guard.

Now here I am, posting all of this on Taylor Talks. As I said, I wasn't sure if I was going to share any of this here, even just the part about meeting that guy. But there has been so much positivity, light, and goodness that came out of me posting this one message on a Facebook group. It truly made me feel so special, and made me see that there is still so much good in the world, even when there is so much chaos. I think that, even if we never find this mystery guy, it's kind of nice to just be able to share something good for once.

So here's the deal... if you want to share this blog post, feel free. You can share on any kind of social media, as long as you link back to me here. But you also have to include the hashtag #EpcotMysteryPrince because all of my new Disney friends want to be sure they can keep track of these posts.

I guess that's it. I'm letting you all take the reins here. Whether or not anything ever comes of this, I feel like my simple post brought an amazing group of people together for a few days, and that was absolutely worth posting it.

​I'd greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you're sharing on Twitter, don't forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks. Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page and follow me on Instagramas well!

Thanks!
Taylor

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