Denise Jimenez / The Bull
A petite young woman wearing Mickey Mouse slippers stands next to her bedroom door. She opens the door to a room filled with Mickey Mouse memorabilia. Her TV has custom-built Mickey Mouse ears. The walls of her room are painted red. On her Mickey Mouse bed sheets are 10 Mickey Mouse stuffed animals. She jumps onto the bed and laughs. She picks up her Steam Boat Mickey stuffed animal and opens her draw- ers where there are rows of Mickey Mouse shirts of all shapes and colors. She does not see one that catches her eye and closes the drawers.
Still holding onto Mickey, she opens her closet filled with Mickey Mouse dresses and pulls out a navy blue dress that has big Mickey Mouse faces all over it. Smiling with satisfaction she walks back to her drawers and looks through her hundreds of Mickey Mouse necklaces, rings and bracelets and puts on a silver Mickey Mouse necklace that has shining princess cut Swarovski diamonds on it along with the matching earrings, as well as a diamond Mickey Mouse ring. She puts her stuffed Mickey down and crouches to look under her bed to find her Mickey Mouse shoes and then puts them on. She kisses her Mickey goodbye, grabs her Mickey Mouse back pack and then walks out of her Mickey Mouse room.
Since she was two years old, Kimberly
Solorzano, 21, has had the opportunity to go to Disneyland for each birthday and it is the thing she waits for all year long. She and her family are part of the four million people who visit Disneyland each year, according to Disneyland.com. But what makes her stand- out from the crowd of other Disney lovers
is her extended Mickey Mouse collection. Mickey is not just a make believe Disney character, or an everyday mouse; he is her best friend and they are inseparable.
Kimberly, a veterinary technician major at Pierce College, owns hundreds of Mickey Mouse memorabilia including backpacks, tote bags, jewelry (rings, necklaces, ear- rings, bracelets), notebooks, hats, scarves, shoes, bed sheets, pillows, stuffed animals, video games, hair accessories, glass figu- rines, calendars, board games, stickers, tattoos, lanyards full of Mickey trading pins, watches and even under garments.
“How could you not like the mouse? Everywhere I am, it is Mickey and Kimmy,” she says. “He is with me on my keys, in my backpack, in my car and at my house.”
Suddenly her phone rings. “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E?” rings over and over again.
“And on my phone,” she adds laughing as she answers.
For some this might seem like an obses- sion. For others it might seem like a hobby gone too far. However, for Kimberly, Mickey Mouse is her passion and her lifestyle.
ADDICTION
“Some people fall on alcohol, drugs or smoking, but for me its Mickey. Its my escape and my life,” she says. “I will always be known as Disney Lady and want people to remember the picture I put on Facebook of Mickey Mouse on one knee in his Toontown studio proposing to me.
According to John Updike, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and author of multiple books such as “Rabbit, Run” and “Rabbit is Rich,” her passion for Mickey Mouse is understandable as he was too inspired by this American icon in the 50’s and 60’s. He also come across the term Mickeyaholic , someone which is addicted to Mickey Mouse, who eats sleeps and breaths Mickey, which is what he would catego- rize Kimmy as.
The Mickeyaholic is always triggered by something or someone in particular, according to Updike. Kimmy is no differ- ent. Her mom and dad played a big part in the development of her passion for Mickey, but it was Kimmy’s first grade teacher, Michelle Poly who pushed her over the edge and made her the Mickey fanatic she is now. She describes Poly as the No. 1 Mickey Mouse fan. That is until Kimmy got a job and was able to buy everything her heart desired. Just like Kimmy, Poly was Mickey Mouse for Halloween every year and her classroom walls were decorated with Mickey Mouse posters, drawings, pencils and teaching materials.
“I never thought that my little Kimmy would be like me. I have had lots of students who liked Mickey Mouse when they were little, but Kimmy, she is one of a kind,” Poly says. “I remember her bringing a talking Mickey Mouse for show and tell one day to class, and she held it tight and didn’t want to let any of the kids touch it because it was her most prized possession.”
It is my third birthday. My mom and dad are waking my sister and me up. The day has finally come. I am going to meet the one person who I have wanted to meet forever. I will see him standing at the gate in his red shorts with his two yellow buttons, and his long tail and big black ears. I’m going to meet Mickey Mouse.
Memories of all these important Mickey moments linger in her mind and she feels nostalgic when thinking back as well as an urge to go back again and again to “The happiest place on Earth.”
“It’s something I can’t describe. When I arrive it’s the best. I plan the day to my liking and feel free,” she says. “But when I’m about to leave, I get so sad and start counting down the days for my next birthday. It’s just every time is different. Something new happens with my family, funny, exciting or special.”
Mickey Mouse is so important in her and her family’s life as it is part of the yearly routine but it also has been difficult for her to grow up with. Her teenage years, in which most girls date and experience exciting adventures, were spent studying and envisioning the fu- ture, but she did not have a boyfriend and
until today does not have one. Her family shows concern but it has to do with the expectations she has of a man and whom she feels will fill her heart. The epitome of the love of her life is not Prince Charming. It is Mickey Mouse.
“My boyfriend will be smart, fun lov- ing, cute, honest, responsible and funny,” she says. “Just like my best friend Mickey Mouse. ”
One family member in particular shows the most concern. Rodrigo Salazar, 21, has grown up with Kimberly and is like a brother to her and feels that it is not healthily for her to have such a passion.
“I can’t stand it when she says ‘I want him to be like Mickey,'” he says. “Kimmy, you can’t have him.”
But no matter what anyone says to Kimmy, Mickey Mouse is the epitome of a man and he will always be there for her like her family.
A COMPROMISE WITH REALITY
Although she is willing to wait for the love of her life, Kimmy does not forget about her present and is on track to ful- filling other accomplishments while going along with her everyday life. She will be graduating in 2012 as a veterinary techni- cian and plans on one day owning her own pet hospital and Mickey Mouse will follow her as well as her mass collection of memorbilia.
“I will one day have a husband who will love me and cherish me like Mickey does Minnie,” she says. “I have faith that if someone was able to create him as a mouse, that a man must really be out there like him for me. I will wait.”
(Denise Jimenez / The Bull)
(Denise Jimenz / The Bull)
