TORONTO ONTARIO – As a small child always dreamed about growing up to one day be a princess. As I got older that dream swiftly died. It wasn’t until I was invited to the Stars and Scrubs gala that my old dream resurfaced. I wasn’t under any illusion that I would some how be remade into a princess for the night like Cinderella but the allure of wearing a long ball gown made my little girl fantasy seem not so far out of reach.
The Gala was put on by the Stevenson Memorial Foundation, to raise money for the hospital in Alliston, in order to celebrate the sponsors, nurses, physicians as well as the rest of the local hospital staff and raise money they did! By the end of the night the gala had raised over $500,000 for the hospital.
The gala took place at the Nottawasaga Inn. There were around 700 guests that attended including myself and everything was set up with accents of blue and silver. Inside there were volunteers selling silver stars for twenty dollars that you wrote your name on to hang on the fake trees that were scattered around the large room.
The food was prepared and presented on a large buffet table- take it from me even if you tried, you couldn’t taste each dish because there were so many to choose between that also included the separate buffet table for desserts, from red velvet cake to tiramisu and a decadent fruit trays.
I should also mention that on each buffet table was a carved watermelon to resemble some kind of flower (I’m not sure which). There was a live band called Parkside Drive, that performed and the gala was even hosted by Krista Tomin. Kevin Frankish from Breakfast Television, served as master of ceremonies.
I had been nervous as the days counted down to May 26, a part of me even considered not going all together, I over thought every detail; my dress, too fancy or not fancy enough? How I should wear my hair, up or down? How much or little, should I apply my makeup? Even my jewelry was thought over then rethought over – until my head began to spin. It was silly looking back on it how much I over thought each tiny detail.
My dress reminded me of the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore all those eyes ago, that photo of her laughing as she pushed her dress down, which flew around her, came to mind when I first tried it on and I loved the dress because of how much it reminded me of her but somehow it just didn’t feel like me; and maybe that was because of how nervous I was, until I stepped foot inside the gala, then it no longer seemed to matter. I even wore my classic evening purse, a penguin wearing a tuxedo, with a gold chain strap by Kate Spade.
I was on the arm of the ginger and as I blushed ferociously, he pulled out my chair each time I sat down. Honestly in that moment I couldn’t have been happier.
Later that night, after the auction had concluded- the front of the room opened up for dancing. Most of the music played that night was from the 90’s which I appreciated since it meant I not only knew all the songs, but I loved most of them.
In high school I had once imagined what it would be like to dance with the ginger but never had the chance. I also never thought the chance would come since for the longest time we were just friends and he always talked about how he never danced.
Well readers, for someone who doesn’t dance- he danced better than me and I took dance class three years in a row. I couldn’t hide my smile so instead, I buried my very red face into his shoulder and as he held me close and looked into my eyes, I fell more and more in love with him.
It was hard to breathe; my heart pounded and my feet ached but none of that mattered because in that moment my world stopped spinning and everyone else that wasn’t him disappeared like they had never been there at all. It was kind of like having the best dream you can imagine and being so afraid that you will wake up and it will disappear but it doesn’t. In many ways in that one night I got my childhood fantasy. I wished for that to never end but like everything in life, all good things must come to an end.
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The weekend after the gala, it was business as usual as my store started its semi annual sale. I went from fancy dresses and Swarovski, and Beauty and the Beast earrings – to black leggings and a black shirt, with more work and even less sleep.
Everybody at work seemed stressed out by the sale, which only added to my own. I even discovered that one of my best friends would be leaving the company to travel.
Despite that however, our sale has been quite successful and more product than even we knew what to do with went on sale. I’ve worked non stop and long shifts in order to get all the product ready for the sale as well as maintaining it during store hours and after when the store is closed down for the night.
Our busy schedules however have recently made it almost impossible for the ginger and I to see each other and while I am in love with him and we have a great relationship, I find it makes it hard for us to connect. Sometimes it feels like the time and distance will be the death of our relationship but I try to look on the positive side of things because at the end of the day I know I would rather be with him than with anyone else.
So now readers I ask you, in a long distance relationship how do you keep the fire lit? When it feels like time passes too quickly and there are less an less hours in each day, how do you balance a relationship with real life?
Life isn’t a fairytale and while I did get my Cinderella story for a night, what comes after?
If at the end of the day love isn’t enough to keep your significant other close by and interested, than what is enough?
Born and raised in Toronto, E. V. Hutcheon studied journalism at St Lawrence College in Cornwall Ontario.
She currently lives in Toronto with her family, three dogs and a rabbit, near the Humber River.
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