What a miserable day it was here!  Cold, raining, strong blowing winds off the ocean…
In a place where walking is the preferred mode of transportation, every outing required reconsideration. Is it worth it?

Well, we only have a week in this fantasyland, so better make the best of it.  This is also the day when a bunch of new people arrive for the second half.

In the spirit of my determination to participate, I decided to be in the fashion show given by the Fair every year to raise money for a local charity.  The weather kept many people away, but we did alright.  Liz and Robyn do such a nice job making all the girls feel like they are beautiful divas and giving us the training and preparation to do the show.  Of course, then, when they have you onstage with nowhere to run, they make fun of you.  Actually, what they do is very good-natured and all in good fun and they manage never to hurt anyone’s feelings while entertaining the audience.  No small feat!
I think the Fashion Show is such a great idea and I was so happy to participate.  For me, a person who is in this as much for the clothes and the looks as anything else, getting the approval of myself in the mirror and my girlfriend at home is great, but the Fashion Show is obviously exponentially better. And no one dislikes applause, right?  And for girls who have to live daily with disapproval and contempt, a little approval and admiration goes a long way.  And on top of all that, this all benefits a charity!

Fantasia Fair Fashion Show

The support and friendships that evolved backstage are another fringe benefit.  I met and connected with several new girls and some old friends (of a few days) helped me out so much.  My dress zipper broke and my hair was a tousled mess and my bra straps were showing and so forth.  They fixed me up.  Thanks to Jennifer and especially Vanessa!  It is hard to imagine under other circumstances men behaving so kindly to each other, wanting the other to succeed, being careful of everyone’s emotions.  But that’s what goes on  here, in spades.

After the show, a bunch of us went to Spiritus Pizza for some food and it was like being back at the lunchroom in high school.  Every few minutes another classmate walked in with her friends, there were greetings exchanged and then they went to their table and hung out.  We sat around talking about stuff and eating pizza and drinking soda until it was time to go to the next party.

At the port and cheese party – which felt a lot more like the parties we go to at home – we met up with more old and new friends and had a nice time.  For us, going to parties usually means standing there talking with each other or with 1 or 2 old friends about the same things we always talk about.  But here, the intimidation of joining in on someone else’s conversation or walking up to someone you don’t know is simply not there.  Because of the shared experiences, both here at the Fair and in life, we all have so much in common, so much compassion and understanding for each other’s feelings, so much motivation to meet people like ourselves and so little time.  So that’s what we do!  (Of course, there is the possibility that when we come back next year, we’ll rehash our old conversations like we do at home, but we’ll have 20 or more new friends with which to do it.;))

Before retiring for the evening, we dropped in at the Brass Key where people tend to drop by for a last drink or a bit more conversation.  The tenor of the conversation, the number of people, the subjects of discussion all ebbed and flowed freely.  Just us gals yakkin’ into the early morning, getting to know each other and sharing ideas.

As we walked our new friend Kimberly to her hotel on the way back to ours, I thought about all that stuff.  Such a warm and upifting experience for such a cold and miserable day!