So at work they are doing the first ever Miss Deseret Pageant. And between the death threats of 2 friends and feeling bad no one was signing up, I filled out an application. which was funny, because i didn't have a printer. It was a funny process getting it figured out. But it was figured out.
So we go to our first "workshop" for the pageant and only three of us are there... After our boss Holly gets there they tell us something...They have already chosen the winners based on applications. (this had to do with lack of interest and the fact not many people signed up. and that this is kind of the Guinean pig year) I was then told that I was the second attendant to Miss Deseret... I am pageant Royalty.
This was such a mixture of emotions for me. I was excited, but I have issues with being the center of attention. I also didn't want to walk around on a stage and have people staring at me. It was just not my thing. And the closer it got to things, the less excited I got. For example, they were originally going to crown us at Brother Brighams Ball...but then they changed their minds. Which was unfortunate, because they said that we had to have dates because we needed escorts. My dad happened to have a business trip to Utah that weekend, and so he flew in a day early and took me to the ball. (which was sad that they didn't end up crowning us. I was really excited to see the look on my sisters face.)
Now a lot of the reasons i was getting less and less excited i won't go into, its a lot of personal issues i'm working on. However, because they were going to present us at the ball, Tate (one of my bosses) wanted all the royalty to look AMAZING! So we were getting first pick down in the closet. That led to one day after work Tate and April taking me into Narnia (the costume closet) and playing dress up. essentially. They found this nice dress. It was a darker green, with maroons and browns and stuff. They made a maroon sash to add to it, around the waist, to accent the waist line, and they found some maroon lace to put around the neck line. It was nice.
But... i secretly still wasn't looking forward to the ball... I didn't want to be the center of attention and the other 2 girls are so pretty. But my daddy was flying out, so i wasn't dreading it...until the day before.
April and Rachel-Anne (Miss Deseret and first attendant) were both going to KSL to advertise for the ball. and they both were wearing their ball gowns. THEY WERE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! All the sudden my nice dress seemed so...plain. I didn't even want to think about having to stand next to them. I did not want to go to the ball anymore. I didn't tell anyone at the park that. But when i clocked in and went to my site, i was almost ready to cry.
Part way through the day I got a text from Tate, asking if i could help him with something that evening. I said sure. He said he just needed some help running errands. So around five he finds me in the basement of the hospital (thats where the employee lounge is) and we head out. As we are getting to his car he says we were going to get taffy. (i wondered why he needed help getting taffy, but i though "whatever")
We start driving and soon we pull into a parking lot. The sign on the door says "Hale Centre Theatre" He puts the car in park and says "So surprise, we are getting you a ball gown."
I was speechless. There have been very few times in my life that I have not been able to find words at all. This was one of those few times. He said something along the lines of after seeing April and Rachel-Anne he could not let me go to the Ball in the second hand dress they already had for me, so we were here getting me a real ball gown. So he went to my other 2 bosses and said "we are getting her a dress, she deserves this."
I have the best bosses in the entire world. They agreed that I deserved a dress. No one has ever gotten me a dress. I literally was in shock. That, i guess, is the secret to getting me to accept things. don't tell me about it, just do it and when i'm in to much shock to say no, i just follow along.
So we head inside, and the lady at the front desk takes us upstairs and I'm just following along. She takes us to the civil war area and Tate starts pulling dresses. we take them to the changing room and I start trying them on.
The first one i could get the skirt done up. The second one i could get the skirt done up, but i couldn't really breathe. I started putting the top on and I managed to button it up, but i was so squished. (big chests make dresses hard) Around that point Tate had come back from getting more dresses and asks how we were doing so far. I came out to show him the one. Essentially i said i could get it on, but i can't really breathe or move. We both knew the chest was an issue. All though he described them funnier than anyone else ever has. I don't remember what led up to it, but he said something along the lines of "it's because your, Vah Vah Voom." (Tate is also gay, which is why this comment didn't offend me. coming from a straight guy, he would have been slapped)
So we're trying and trying. And they come back with this greenish-turquoisish one. And the top fits. So we try on the skirt. which fits, minus being to long. but what else is new? So we put me in this massive hoop skirt. And it fits, and it looks good. (keeping in mind, during this whole process i am still in shock. i can't register whether it looks good or not) they go to make one more sweep and some back, i had found a sash by the hangers this dress was on and asked if it was part of it. It was, they tied it on and i looked in the mirror. I couldn't believe what a difference the sash made. I actually had a waist line. I liked it. I just couldn't process. Tate decided this was the one we were getting, and we were lucky. It actually went with my skin tone really nicely. Its one of those colors that can actually wash people out.
So we are down, the park rents my dress for me, we drive back to the park so i can get my car.
I immediately drive to wal-mart and get thank you cards for all 3 of my bosses. The next morning, i went to work early because i was making soup for the girls for when we were getting ready for the ball the next night. and soup I can leave in a crock pot all day. We also had an early morning pageant rehearsal. so between making the soup and running to the bowery for rehearsal i slipped the card into the offices/ cubicles of the respective recipients.
We then proceed to rehearse for the pageant, talents, dances, walking. all of it. after it, i quickly change and start heading up to my site for the day. As i'm getting to my site, my boss Cliff drives by on his golf cart and pulls over and says "you really are a beauty queen." It was so simple, and yet that meant the world to me.
Then the ball came. April did my hair, maddi did my make-up, i got into my dress. I got lucky, and my pearls went amazing with the dress. Then all of us went up to the ball. We get there, dad liked my dress. But it was funny, i couldn't really dance in it. Even in my heels, it was to long. but it was still so much fun. I had one lady come up to me and say that she thought that i had the most beautiful dress in the room. a little girl came and asked if I was Cinderella.
We went to dinner in our costumes after the ball, and while we were waiting for a table people started talking about the ball. I heard someone mention that a little girl had asked if I was cinderella and someone else said "You really were the Belle of the ball."
I know all of this seems shallow, but that dress meant so much to me. That my bosses were willing to do that to make sure i looked as incredible as i could for just one night. I really don't know if they ever will really know how much it meant to me. and how many times i almost cried over it, because it honestly touched me so much.
