Queen for a Day

Dress, Brian's Etsy shop

When I was a little girl, I looked like most other little girls. I acted like most other little girls, if maybe a little more dramatic, and I did normal little girl things. But I knew, I knew, that I really should have been a princess. I saw the way princesses lived (the ones who had fairy godmothers, not the ones who got divorced from the Prince of Wales), and I knew that's how I wanted to live. I needed a castle and a fairy godmother, and most of all, I needed a ball gown and a tiara. Needed them.

Obviously, I didn't grow up to be a princess. I did harbor a fantasy in high school that I would meet Prince William and he would fall madly in love with me, and I wore a tiara at my wedding (because when else would I ever be able to get away with that again?), but that's as close as I got. So y'all understand that sometimes, I need to wear royal purple with gold accessories. It's just a nod to Little Me, because according to her, I should be knee-deep in fairy godmothers by now.

Of course, I did help a group of students book a last-minute flight to DC to meet the king of their country today. So I'm one degree of separation from an actual king now. I'm brushing up on my pageant wave as we speak.