Meeting a Prince

Last night I had the honour and privilege of taking seven beautiful young ladies to something called a ‘Princess Party.’ The PP was a gathering of young women who were encouraged to share their dreams and chase them wherever they went. We wrote our dreams on balloons and then let them go together out into the wilderness. As a grown-up at such an event, I was worried that it was all a little bit too cute for real life. I stood and watched these girls conjure dreams to be famous actresses, to be prime ministers, to be mothers, to be rich and all the other cliched responses. I watched and smiled thinking that if only they knew what I already knew, then maybe their dreams would be a little more realistic. As a stood smiling in the distance watching my girls pour out their superficial thoughts onto paper cut stars, a girl (well a woman, but still much younger than me) asked me what my dream was.

On first response, I laughed. It didn’t seem to phase her and she stood staring at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. Oh, I don’t know was my clumsy response. It had been that long since I’d thought about them let alone another human being had asked me about them. I spend the bulk of my life ensuring that other’s have their dream that when asked about my own, I stumbled. I wrote a ‘funny’ one first. “TO BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO SING IN FRONT OF OTHERS.” Sing in front of others? I’ve never been a great singer and apart from a foray in the year 8 choir it’s never been anything I’ve ever thought about. So in a state of panic and anxiety I scribble it onto a star and hand it over. “Oh, that’s great! Have you thought about going on one of those shows like Idol or The Voice?” she asks. Seriously, that’s what she asked. “Um, no.” I stuttered and backed away slowly from the bench. Over the next hour, amongst the hair and make-up stations, the flower arranging and other such princess activities, I couldn’t shake the rattle. My dream, my dream…I couldn’t for the life of me think what it should be.

I moved across to the heart wall. A wall where girls wrote their wishes for all girls across the world and in true princess form I found a heart that said, “to fall in love and meet a handsome prince.” I immediately laughed, posted on facebook that the poor girl had no clue about life and ridiculed the notion of a prince. Really? That’s what she wishes for all girls everywhere? What about opportunity, equality, safety… There were so many things that jumped to my mind before the handsome prince got a look in. My scoff soon turned to discomfort. Why couldn’t she have a prince? The more I thought, the more I thought why not? It didn’t have to be a real prince, just a metaphoric one. No one really had to save them from anything but to fall in love with a man that they thought was a prince was not necessarily that terrible a wish. I looked at my ridiculous star that wanted me to sing in public and scoffed at my own superficialness.

The rest of the night progressed in a haze of pink I can do anything ‘ness’. I took it all in princes, disadvantaged kids, cheesy lounge singers, roses and miniature cupcakes. I thought about the dream I’d let go into the beyond and desperately wished I could take it back. I wanted to grasp it out of the air as it floated away and give it to that girl who thinks everyone deserves a prince. I can’t believe it took a ‘Princess Party’ for teens to remind me that the simple things are what dreams are made of and that I deserve those as much as any of the other princesses that inhabit my world. I just hope that on that girl’s star, she wrote my name and phone number on it just in case it lands in the hands of my prince.