...even without the prince.
The long-awaited company party was Saturday night, and it was just wonderful! My employer hosts this event every year to thank the employees for their contribution to the success of the company. It is an extremely generous gesture - cocktails, dinner and dancing for over 500 people.
Like most women, I love the chance to dress up fancy once in a while...to sparkle and shine and know I look my best...to feel like Cinderella for a night. But unlike Cinderella, I didn't have a fairy godmother to do all the work with a flip of her wand, so I called in some human professionals for help - manicure, pedicure, and hair styling. I did my makeup myself, using brighter colors and more mascara than usual. I wore a black velvet and lace dress, diamond(-like) earrings and necklace and fancy (not too) high heels. Based on the compliments I received, I would say the results were well worth the effort.
The banquet hall was gorgeous...white and gold and softly lit with brilliant crystal chandelliers. Dinner was delicious, the DJ read the crowd perfectly and had people dancing all night, and the employee acts (which we did for the first time this year) were great. We had four comedy acts, including the song my friend E and I performed, which got lots of laughs and applause.
Our one "serious" act - a singer who did a blues number - brought down the house. She was so good the DJ and the crowd insisted on an encore! With the depth of emotion that a truly great song has to touch your soul, she slowly sang "At last...my love has come along."
It was the only sad part of the evening for me. Dancing was not Uncle Dan's favorite thing, but he always obliged me on the slow ones. He was about four inches taller than me, which put my head at the perfect height for leaning on his shoulder and feeling the warmth of his neck against my cheek. As I watched the dance floor from the sidelines, I could tell which couples were just friends and which ones were in love. Oh, how I would love to have just one more slow dance with him!
At the stroke of midnight the music ended, the lights came up and we said our goodnights. The magic world we had created for a few short hours was gone.
The morning after
I didn't post anything yesterday because Saturday totally whacked out my routine and body clock. I ended up sleeping until after 11. It took a while to get all the hairspray washed out, which was fine since my sore, stiff legs needed the warm water of the shower. I then went to lunch, followed by a trip to the warehouse store to buy a new color printer. I fell asleep again while attempting to read the Sunday paper. By the time I sat down to the computer, hooked up the new printer, and cleaned up the mess that my home office had become during the last few weeks of frantic activity, I was tuckered out again.
Tomorrow we will be back at work, wearing our regular clothes. For a few days I will limp from the blister on my left pinkie toe, and my coworkers and I will talk and laugh about the fun we had. But we will quickly return to the routine of our normal lives. And that's how it is supposed to happen. It is the rarity of magical nights that makes them so special.
May God bless you with many, many magical nights.
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