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It is hard to believe that over twenty years
have passed since we completed that last show and went our
separate ways, but it has been twenty years and I have a few
white hairs to show for it. On that day I had no idea what
lay in front of me and could not imagine leaving all of you
and heading into the unknown. Little did I know that very
moment taught me that I can head into the unknown, time and
time again, and emerge stronger because of it. Someone once
told me, "If nothing changes, nothing changes." This has proven
true for me.
One of the first changes for me was the decision
not to travel another year as a Stage Manager for UWP. Instead
I chose to finish my degree in Architecture at the University
of New Mexico. After graduating I loaded my entire life in
the back of my Toyota truck (last time I could do that) and
moved to Los Angeles. I worked for a few architectural firms
there until I landed a job working for a group called Landmark
Entertainment, a themed entertainment design company. With
Landmark I had found a perfect combination of two of my loves,
theatre and architecture, and worked for them in Tokyo, Japan
for two years as an art director.
I returned to California in 1992, in time for
the Northridge earthquake and the L.A. riots. It reminded
me of the chaos growing up in a house with 9 brothers and
sisters and must have made me feel right at home because I
ended up staying for another five years. During that time
I alternately tried my hand at art direction and acting. I
did eventually get an agent and landed a few "acting gigs"
(perhaps you saw my hand close-ups in an episode of Quantum
Leap or walking behind Bette Midler in Outrageous Fortune),
but art direction always seemed to feed me a little better.
As a designer/art director I worked on a variety
of jobs in California and Seoul, Korea and eventually, after
a short stint with Disneyland, was hired by Universal Studios
to work on their new park, Islands of Adventure, in Orlando.
I was the Production Designer for the Cat in the Hat ride,
located in a portion of the park completely dedicated to Dr.
Seuss' books. During the design phase of the project I met
a young Irish/American lady from Orlando named Michelle Larkin
who turned my life upside-down (in the best way). We eventually
found it impossible to deny the fact that we were meant to
be together and got married in 1998 in Montana. After finishing
the Universal project in Orlando we packed up all of our belongings
(I had outgrown the Toyota pickup by a few pounds) and moved
to Montana.
Michelle and I live in the house that I grew
up in on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Since our house
sits on 450 acres of riverside property in a very beautiful
and secluded part of the reservation we initially decided
to open a bed & breakfast. After running the B&B for a couple
of years we had our first little girl, Jorian Sky (who was
born in the middle of the night on a full moon). We soon realized
that we were not old enough to own a B&B, plus our guests
didn't like waking up at 2:00 am for nightly feedings. This
past March we had another little girl and named her Kyra (Kear-ruh)
Sienna. She was almost born on the way to the hospital (we
are about an hour or so away from the nearest hospital) during
the worst snowstorm of the winter. She is our little Snow
Baby.
Michelle is a full-time Mom AND finishing her
degree in Communications online with Montana State U. and
I now work for my Tribe as a Construction Project Manager.
We are currently under construction on a Youth Services Center
for our Tribe as well as helping to rebuild a community center
for one of our communities. On the side I have helped develop
a statewide Indian tourism association called the Montana
Tribal Tourism Alliance and a few of us have created a community
development corporation called The People's Partners for Community
Development to help develop community projects on our reservation.
Michelle sometimes asks me, "Why are you always
involved in so much?". I am not sure, but I know one of the
reasons is because of UWP and what Mr. Belk told us one time,
he said, 'Remember, once you finish your time with Up With
People take what you have learned back to your homes and share
it with your communities.' It took me a few years to understand
what he meant, but he was right. I may have taken it a little
too far by going back to the very same house, but that's just
me, Mr. Literal.
I hope that all you fellow Cast E-ers are doing
well. It was an honor to share a magical year of my life with
you and it is nice to know that it doesn't stop there. I hope
that you and your mates and your children and your homes are
doing well. If any of you are looking for a very beautiful
and quiet place to visit, or if you are just in the neighborhood,
stop in. We would love to see you.
Major
Major
Robinson
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