me, of course . . .

well, not quite . . .

[THIS IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS. HOWEVER, I COULD NOT WAIT ONE MORE MOMENT TO SHARE THIS FABULOUS PHOTOGRAPH WITH YOU!]

Travel with me back to 1982 . . . yes, there really WAS a contest in my hometown–“Miss Tottenville” and “Little Miss Tottenville”. By some deluded choice of my mother’s, it was decided that my awkward little self was going to compete in this . . . now, granted, this was not some JonBenet-esque gig, but nonetheless, I was a gawky pre-teen and barely “little miss” ANYTHING material.

However, away we went, and I went through the motions of planning my talent (original poetry–which, as I recall, was misspelled in the program, so that it read “original pomes”), preparing for the gown competition (with two¹ gowns that were sewed by my mother, of course. One was a gorgeous white dress with a lavender floral print; the other was a horrifying light blue number with way too much lace. oh man. I really need to find some pictures!)

[¹oops. just found a picture. apparently there were THREE gowns.]

At any rate, on the night of Apri 24th, 1982 I competed, trudging across the stage with my little prepubescent belly sticking out and no doubt with some really awful blue eyeshadow . . .

(TO BE CONTINUED!)