Blast from the past

I'm still trying to recover completely from this blasted head cold that doesn't want to release its grip on me - so that's how I came to be alone on the couch Wednesday night with my throat lozenges, my blanket & my kleenex while the hubby and boys drove off to our midweek service without me.

And that's when Picasa sucked me in...again.

This whole face recognition tool I've discovered that creates folders for people and quickly locates every photo of that individual in my entire system regardless of when the photo was taken has been so fun for my organizing, administrative, creative mind!

All that said... I came across the following photo.

Me ~ AKA the fairy-princess-ballerina (1987)

 Meet 9-year old me.

My 5th grade year (or standard 3 for those in New Zealand) our school decided to throw a "square dance."  Throw away your preconceived notions of some barn dance with an overall wearing deejay screaming "swing your partner dosey doe" - this was a serious performance and I remember it was a BIG DEAL!  For a couple months our class spent time every day learning and practicing all the steps to perform a semi-choreographed recital for the entire school body, our parents and family members to watch.

I couldn't tell you one dance move I learned but I remember two things very clearly:

1.  It was a "fancy dress" ball which meant I got to dress in a costume.

I took this very seriously!  Opportunities to become a fantasy fairy-tale character were NEVER taken for granted by me!  I chose my costume carefully.  I practiced my poses - after all I was not just a fairy... I was a ballerina fairy and felt qualified to be so given the one year of ballet I took when I was six.  I'm throwing in the princess too because my favorite past time growing up was pretending I was a princess in real life that was being forced to live as a commoner with a peasant family because my royal family was in hiding.  Wow, I was a special child.

2.  Our teacher paired us all up into couples - and I was paired with Kade Hutchinson.

Kade Hutchinson was the CUTEST boy in my entire class grade school and the object of my first serious crush in grade school.  However, being that he was the cutest and most popular boy he was also the object of every other girl in my class' affection and I instantly became the least liked girl in the grade since I got to hold his hand.... and they didn't.

And I might have accidentally rubbed that in a bit.
Okay...perhaps not accidentally.

But let's skip ahead to the night of the fancy dress ball... I arrived ready to wow my dancing partner with my amazing costume (wings & fancy wand handmade by my mother) and to have a magical evening dancing away with my fairy prince while the rest of the girls in my class looked on with envy.

Kade came dressed as a fisherman.  (small bubble burst)

The dance started, the music played away and we went through our planned steps - all going well until Kade spun me.  As he lifted his arm to allow me to turn beneath it - my fairy wings got caught on one of the fishing hooks that were secured all around his hat...and we got stuck; his head bent down at a funny angle right into the middle of my back.

He immediately tried to yank himself free - but I was scared of him tearing my wings so I made him stop.  But I couldn't see behind my back to unhook us and he couldn't see above the rim of his hat... so we just stood there helpless.

Doesn't seem like a big deal now - but then it was traumatic.   Imagined or real, I noticed every smug glance from the other girls as they danced away incident-free with their partners. (bubbles bursting left and right now like bombs)

I don't remember how long exactly we stayed in the middle of the dance floor looking awkward but it felt like an eternity.  His teenage sister finally came down out of the balcony and rescued us and we returned to our dance.  Kade was apologetic but the evening was ruined for me.

Who comes to a fancy dress ball as a fisherman?  Really - where's the imagination??
That could have been avoided if he'd come as a superhero - that's all I'm saying!


Later that year we had another opportunity to dress up in costumes - I don't remember the occasion but I do remember that I chose not to be a fairy ballerina this time.

Princess Kelly ~ 1987

The princess thing though... well that stuck.
Once a princess forced to live as a commoner... always a princess!

Happy Friday everyone!