One Tiara at a Time
Queen Barbara said the joy she found after giving a necklace and a petite tiara to a little girl along the parade route was the best thing ever. Misty eyed she confided in me, “That sweet little girl brought tears to my eyes. She wanted to hug us all. Wasn’t that just the sweetest?” Yes. It was. All Kim and I had brought were necklaces with a dangly crown pendant that kept tangling up as we attempted to pass them out to the on-lookers. I had purchased a dozen sequined tiara that were long gone. Gone before we made the bend in the road. Klesey has a bushel of candy and buckets of beads. Sylvia had confetti poppers that shot a small blast of tissue paper into the air. Thankfully, Barbara had planned ahead and bought tons of sets of plastic tiaras at the party section of Toys R Us so that she could carry on, spreading joy and glitter one tiara at a time. Spotting another cutie-pie, she placed the silver comb with a Barbie-esque Royal ornament atop a pony-tailed head. Tiara secured soundly, the child hugged each of us as we flounced by. Buried face deep in my neon green chiffon skirt, she looked up and grinned. “Wow.” I smiled at Barbara as I waved and walked on fast, trying hard to catch up with the other queens. “Thanks for remembering to get tiny tiaras. I ran out as soon as we got started.” Barbara, nodded knowingly and let go of a happy sigh, “Of course! That is what this is all about. I have been looking forward to doing this all week long.” She looked as though she had just suddenly started breathing. She took another long, slow, deep breath as she scanned the crowd for another Girl Princess in the making. “That is what being a Queen all about.” We saw it together. Half way around her dress the hem was tattered and muddied. “Oh no! Your brand new dress!” “Aww. Who cares? I have worn it a couple of times. I can always get another dress. But today? I will always remember today,” she said as she started digging into her bag and locating another set of toy tiaras. A just above knee high little girl was waving energetically with her even tinier little sister standing to her side, more shy and reserved. The toddler looked pensively down at the asphalt and then up at her mother who smiled and nodded reassuringly. As Barbara rushed to them, she looked up. The sisters looked as if they were watching a summer sunrise, eyes wide and expectant- they threw their arms open and stretched to catch the rays of warmth.