10.23.2011

The Brightest Red Shoes Possible

A funny thing happened while riding in the limo...in my little rural Middle-of-NowHere.

Wait. Put it in reverse. Back up.

Okay, I get this call from my girlfriend. She's like:
Hey, can you do a little modeling for me? I'm like: Sure. Loving her photography, I think it's a no brainer. Then I wonder what I should wear so I call her back inquiring and she says: Don't worry we have everything here for the fashion show just come down.

Fashion show? No! What?

Note: There are richly diverse Spanish speaking groups in my community. They all seem to enjoy flashy fashion. They open boutiques that thrive because they know the market. In fact, my place in space is a microcosm of the Melting Pot on all fronts but these groups have a monopoly on the store fronts.

I try never to judge what another chooses to wear but much of what is in the shops is
not my style but I show up with an open heart. They hand me something satiny with ruffles and a very high and very red pair of heels. That's when I know my Mexican grandmother and my Venezuelan BFF, from beyond the grave, are jacking with me. I make up this whole thing about them laughing at me as I try to slip into the little black number. I don't even know how to put it on. While I struggle, I mutter a conversation under my breath directly to them. As I do, I hear the rapid fire of Spanish words between a couple of young girls outside the dressing room with interjections of laughter and it feels like home. Not that I've ever been able to speak Spanish but it was oh so common for me to get swept into the cadence while being clueless of it all. It's music to me. I love it. And I love this moment in the dressing room.

Anyway, the fashion show isn't exactly a fashion show. No. Turns out it is a fashion competition between boutiques in our little town. I'm like:
How creative. Think boxing in stilettos. I'm Oscar de la Hoya with a bit of Oscar de la Renta flair. Suddenly, I'm good with satin. Who thinks to come up with this stuff?

Back up even more...but not quite back to the limo.

Pre-show equals massive photography. Both from the novice & the professionals in town. Luckily, it's a good hair day. I'm with a group of about 15 young ladies all of whom are 20-Something and below. Another and I mark higher in the age ranks. I'll not attempt to guess how old she is though older than I am. While the chicks hunt and peck at their hair and make up, us old hens are just praying we don't slip out of our shoes while we walk. We pray hard because the shoes seem to have a mind of their own.

After the photo ops there is about a 30 minute window before !!~SHOWTIME~!! Wanting to keep everything classy, the shop owner has us pile into a massive limousine. We are going to cruise Nowhere.

Hit the breaks:

Anyone following any of the writings prior to this one understands how deeply I embrace and am attempting daily to refine the idea that You Create Your Reality. Also, upon reading, you know that I've mentioned what my little village lacks in beauty is made up for by those that live here. Today = case in point. To me, a hilarious case in point. I'm delighting in the ridiculous. How did I create this? I'm always looking for meaning in each moment. So, as I sit outside the shop waiting for our jot about town to begin, I notice the red neon light in the window. It flashes each letter of O. P. E. N. then flutters OPEN, OPEN twice before flashing the letters of O.P.E.N again. As I am hypnotized by it, I hear Stay Open.


I was writing a script that I kept telling myself I needed to have more experience to write. It's about fashion. I've been stuck. I actually moved on to a different script that I am in the rewrites of. I am enjoying it but I can't help but think the Universe is telling me I have enough in me to write the other...that the essence alone can get me through. Life is about living your passion. Something I'm good at helping others do but lack in myself. I was witnessing a lesson in not waiting or questioning just doing. That was being driven home to me...literally.

As I sat looking out the windows of this monstrous vehicle while it traveled through our forsaken countryside, a funny thing happened. I felt somewhere else. Somewhere far from forsaken. It was nothing short of wonderful and I know that without being right here, right now, I would never have opened a path to know that Someday Somewhere that was so very present in the moment.