Like it was yesterday – (maybe because i have never sufficiently grown up) – I remember a little fantasy dream-like scene I’d invent night after night in my darkened bedroom…….i was maybe 8 years old:
I’d lay under the covers nibbling on a packet of saltine crackers purloined from the pantry and I’d pretend I was at a party, a high-fashion-high- end cocktail party at some castle or other, where everyone was dressed up and looking pretty, holding a crystal glass of champagne in one hand and one of my precious saltine cracker hors-d’oeuvres in the other hand, and we’d be standing around chatting and sipping and nibbling….i’d invent conversations, i think, though i do not remember about what, except I do remember mouths would be moving….nibble, chatter, sip, nibble along the edges of the precious saltine taking it slow, chatter then sip…..I’d be miming the sipping since I was allowed no liquids in bed..
But a particular part of the game, the part I think was a dream, was how I arrived at that party.
My Aunt had gifted me with a cunning shiny brooch, all painted gold and glittery, of a coach and horses, with little men driving it, and those men were in red and black uniforms like royal attendants, with tall black furry hats on, and the action of the entire pin was of the horses prancing along, tethered by tiny golden chains and pulling that elegant golden carriage ….if a magic wand could have been waved, that brooch, that little girls pin, would have come alive and travelled all the way down the front of me….
Well….that is what i dreamed…that the brooch had come alive and was carrying me to the party! Those small horses legs lifting up and down, up and down….the driver cracking a thin whip….
Those little horses, men and carriage glittered and sparkled and pranced about on the top of my covers, and i had the best time watching them, but i was also inside the carriage.
I used to watch The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights , which i think was when that fantasy /dream of mine was particularly strong.
Actually, i must admit, i was raised and nurtured on a pretty steady diet of Disney.
All things Disney sparkled, except for Frontier Land, which i didn’t much like.
My obsession with all things sparkly resulted in my darling husband Peter and I getting married at Disney World, at the Polynesian Resort, 20 years ago!
WE honeymooned at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we could feed giraffes from our balcony!
Yep….horses and a carriage…..champagne and saltine crackers….
……….once a princess, always a princess!!!!