I was having my morning coffee with one of my best friends Janice. She was all excited about this event that would happen in Union City in a few weeks. It was a children's beauty pageant. The winner would receive an award and move on to the next beauty pageant in Memphis, Tennessee. It would go from there to another pageant until someone won $10,000. She said, "Let's enter our girls!! It will be fun and it doesn't cost much money...just an entry fee. We can get them pretty sundresses, fancy sandals, fix their hair and apply a little make up. It will be just like playing dress up!!" We asked the girls what they wanted to do and of course they were excited and couldn't wait to put on make up.
I called Mama to tell her the news and she was not excited at all. Mama and Mamamae were at my home in Tenn. in about an hour. First Mama explained I had never been to a beauty contest for kids and I really didn't know what I was getting into. I told my family all that I knew about the contest and that Lisa was excited and wanted to do it. I can hear Mama now saying, "It costs a small fortune to be in beauty pageants. There is a lot of competition and mother's get furious with judges, the audience and the little girls. Most of the time the little girls do not have fun. Don't make Lisa do this." I remember telling Mama that this time it was just for fun. Lisa's beautiful and it will be like playing dressing up. She won't care if she wins or not she is six. We know she is beautiful. Let her have the experience. She will feel like a princess.
Reluctantly, Mama and Mamamae dropped the subject but "the look" remained through out their visit.
The next day, Lisa and I go to K Mart and buy her a pretty sundress, a pair of sandals that had a wedge heel, ribbons for her hair and a little stand out slip to make her dress fuller. She looked like a little doll. We ordered her a wrist corsage of red carnations and she was ready for Saturday night and the contest. Throughout the week she practiced walking in her shoes, turning around, and smiling. She did fine.
Mama, Mamamae, Janice and her family, Lisa, Tami and I drove to the high school at the same time. As soon as we turned into the parking lot I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. It was packed. My silent introvert jumped up and down in my throat and said, "Oh Hell no !! You are not going in there!!! Are you crazy??? Look at all those rich people...dummy!!" I literally thought I would pass out...but I didn't and we made it inside the school. There were forty million little girls dressed in forty million dollar dresses or should I say gowns. Even though the dresses they wore were short...they were created in the image of gowns. I looked at Mama and she knew how I felt. She hugged me and said, "Lisa is beautiful, she fits right in." God bless her, if she had said "I told you so!!" I would have busted out crying. However, Mama would never say anything like that.
I looked for Lisa and she was playing with some little girls and having a good time. She was enjoying the pretty dresses and acting like a little princess. She did much better than her mother who really wanted to puke...anywhere would have been fine. Her mother also wanted a drink of water and a Xanax. Neither of which she got.
They called the little girls backstage. Lined them up and the first round began. One child was just as pretty as the next. I was glad I wasn't a judge. Lisa made it through that round and was smiling from ear to ear. She even waved to us from the stage. The second round went fine and she was still in the competition. However, others had been cut and there were some mad Mama's in the audience. I have been to wrestling matches where the language was better. Lisa was taken out in the third round. She came back to where we were sitting. I really don't think she was supposed to but she did and I was glad. She whispered in my ear,"Can we go home? I want a bowl of cereal." That was the last thing I was expecting to hear. So I told Mama what was going on and we left.
The ride to our home was quiet. We played the radio and I complemented her on what a wonderful job she did. I told her I had made pictures to show Tommy when he got home. She smiled and that was all. After we got in the house and changed clothes, I fixed the cereal. Lisa was still quiet. Finally I asked her if she wanted anything else and she said the oddest thing. "Mama do you have the crown I wore when I was Valentine Queen?" I did and I even knew where it was--miracles of miracles. She put the crown on and finished her cereal. We began to laugh and talk once again. Soon she was sleepy. She put her p.j.'s on and climbed in bed. I gave her a good night kiss and noticed she was sleeping with her crown on. For the millionth time, in her short life, she stole my heart all over again.
“Old” Vicky is back. Great story. Keep on!
ReplyDeleteThank you Celeste.
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