My Ballerina

I was asked a few months ago if I wanted to be a hostess in the annual Miss Idaho Falls pageant, which is a division of the Miss America program. Being the girly-girl that I am, I thought this would be right up my alley, though I had no clue what a hostess was suppose to do.

Show the contestants to their tables?
No, and there's no way I'd look that good in a little black dress anyways.

Sell goodies for tickets?
Uh, not likely. Though I can be a bit of a ding dong sometimes, so I guess there's some truth to it. ;)

Play the hostess and invite them over to my house for a tea party?
Nope yet again, though I've always loved throwing and attending girly parties!

After learning a little more about my "duties," I discovered that my role as a hostess is like being a big sister to one of the contestants. I get to ooh and aah over her dress, talent, and help her with her interview, etc... I tell you what, I'm in estrogen giddy-land everytime I attend a meeting!

So, here's where my contestant comes in. They were introducing all the adorable contestants at the hostess tea (oh, I guess there WAS a tea party in there, but I didn't have to do anything but show up and nibble finger foods. It's a tough life...) she stands and says, "Hi!! I'm Lisa. I'm a ballerina."

I immediately turned to the gal in charge of placing the hostesses with the contestants and said, "I want the ballerina."
Now, before that sounds too weird, I felt immediate kindred spirit connection when she stood. I knew I wanted to help her, so I introduced myself.

I guess she just looked like a girly-girl and I knew that we'd have a lot in common.

And yes, I would totally do this with her if I had a chance (and a cute dress).

Maybe it's because I was taking a beginner's ballet adult class with friends and felt the en pointe connection. Only I practiced in fuzzy socks since we were really novice.

Whatever it was, I have been SO glad I chose to volunteer my time to help a beautiful young woman share her wonderful smile and personality with the local community.

I present to you Contestant #1 for the Miss Idaho Falls Pageant:

She has a zeal for life and smile that brings happiness to your very soul just for being around her. You can get a feel for her personality by watching this professional version of her talent piece from Esmeralda:

The only pageant experience I've ever had was in high school when I participated in the local America's Junior Miss program. That experience helped me crawl out of my shell and discover so many new things during my awkward teenage years (and let me tell you, they were awkward especially when I still had the perm....shudder).

I was privileged to be with other amazing young women and each of us became better people after participating in the program. My favorite part of the whole experience was off stage, right before we went out for the awards after all of our performances. Stereotypes and cliques were forgotten for a few minutes as we all held hands and wished each other luck.

In fact, I was so happy to be around the gals that I didn't really pay attention to the names they were calling. It took a few seconds for it to register when they called my name for interview (eg Panel Evaluation) and Spirit Award, which was voted by the other contestants for the one showing the most spirit of the program.

Above all else, I hope my ballerina grows from this experience and feels like a better person because she did it. I'll be there cheering her on and helping her inbetween dress changes to make sure she has the best experience she can this 6th of August.

I can't wait for the local community to see her shine the way I do!