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OUCH….truly getting too old to do the ‘dance-floor-workout’ …..It’s day two after the Ball and I look and walk around like someone who has had both legs amputated and replaced by ‘wooden’ ones….not a pretty sight !!
(With all due respect to those of you who manage to make it look easy coping with such devices !)

Ball was fantastic ! Although the food tasted like airplane platters that had been transported across a few continents before they were served at the table….Yuk !

Start of the night was a chique encounter of mostly ‘grown ups’….all dressed fabulously and those who weren’t ….well….I just won’t mention them ! 😉

After the dj’s made the music and dance introductions, we were treated to a band…and they were absolutely magnificent ! Golden oldies remixed with modern sounds making terrific dance combinations !! Halfway through the evening the ‘young ones’ joined us and they stood there, crowding the dancefloor yet not moving an inch !! Apparently that is really COOL….. !!! 
I received some ‘rolling eyes’, the kind my daughter can give me when she utterly disapproves of me or thinks I am just being ridiculous…I think the ‘looks’ I got from some young girls were meant in exactly that way…then again, they didn’t worry me at all, as one day, I’m sure, they too will get those looks !!! And I say this with ‘rolling eyes’ myself ! 😉

Amidst my tipsy friends, I enjoyed the dancefloor and made a total fool of myself with my  ‘dance workout’ and plain ‘I-don’t-really-care-what-you-think-of-me-movements-‘ !!! (Of course only realising today that my leg muscles are not in shape and therefore killing me now !!) The fact that I had no date, left me as free as a bird…and not feeling ‘stuck’ to anyone in particular, never thought that would be so fulfilling !

Friends started leaving to hit their beds and pillows…yes…we are all getting older…and I deciced to stay and be my single-self !! I must have looked like a total fool, dancing alone, yet having such fun !! A man at the table infront of me, I think, felt so sorry for me that he encouraged  his wife to offer me a glass of their pink champagne !! It was a glorious moment of true emancipation !!  😉

On my way to the ‘ladies room’ I bumped into some very young guys….claiming they knew me and that I had once predicted their future !!! (Must have been my huge gipsy earings that gave me away ! ;-)) I talked to them a little only to get whispered in my ear by a friend that these guys were truly too young for me !! Whatever gave him the impression of any flirting going on ?! I was in no sense capable of such an act that evening. This was made more than clear once I looked at myself in the mirror of the ladies room and saw that my hair was just atrocious !! Out of pure shock I evacuated the dancefloor and left the building !

My Volvo-carriage with built in GPS-man safely got me home as I had predicted and I enjoyed sharing all my night’s tales with him as he always listens and never complains !! 😉

Modern Fairytale…

Months ago this Cinderella made reservations to attend a proper Ball. I booked a table for 8, as 3 other couples were more than willing to join me for the dinner festivities which would prelude the actual Ball! I thought, it would be no problem to find myself a date in the in-between-time, but now I am faced with reality….an empty seat at the table tomorrow !!! After having been living the single life now for nearly 4 years, and having had plenty of non-lasting-dates, it seems I am yet again attending this by myself !! 😉

I can do this, I know that by now, and I will be fun and jolly galore, but inside I know a little piece of me will once again go through total dissapointment and I’ll feel like the girl who never got asked to join in gymclass !!

For those of you with a significant other this may all sound foolish and silly. But believe me when I tell you that there are occasions in life when it’s best to know that someone is there, right by your side, to get you through it. And Survive ! It installs a sense of ‘belonging’, I suppose.

That may be what I’ve been missing out on for a while now. Belonging. So I find myself in a Cinderella-like-situation…

Anyway, I’ll be wearing a glittery, navy blue, long, fancy dress, with Cinderella slippers (no, they’re not flat, but very high heels as I’m not the tallest or fairest of them all ! ;-)).

Drinks and dinner to get into the mood and then lots of movement on the dancefloor. As a good friend of mine likes to call it….it’s our ‘workout’ !!! At this point all the young adults will join us and if all goes well, it will be the modern day Fairytail Ball! By then I will have long forgotten, about the empty seat next to me at the dinner table and my spirits will be up !

At the magical hour, this Cinderella will leave the Ball, walk herself to her car (yes, my feet will surely be killing me by now…) where my loyal volvo-carriage will be awaiting me in the underground parking. The GPS man will safely guide me home and the next morning I will once again see BOTH my slippers tossed into a corner of the wardrobe…..

Back to living the vida loca ! 😉

Every Wednesday, my kids have hockey practice and since I have 3 kids, I spend nearly all afternoon at the hockey club. There are plenty of other mothers who do exactly the same on Wednesday afternoon…that is…drive everyone around in an organized fashion, so that they can punctually be at their required sports/singing/birthdays etc. activities. It is on these afternoons that I am so happy to have a comfortable car, with a great selection of music cd’s to keep me company on my rush-around-town !

All mothers of ‘chicks’ and ‘squirrels’ (yes, that’s how we call our first and second year hockey players), are supposed to hang around the club as long as their little sprouts are on the field training. This has been made compulsory so that if any accidents were to happen, mothers can rush to the rescue !

Wednesday’s have now become a true social event for most of us. We have the ‘wine’ group, that settles under a huge parasol with heaters all around them, and they enjoy their cigarettes and wine for most of the afternoon. Then we have the tea-and-coffee-drinking-moms who seem to always be cold and therefore spend most of the afternoon indoors, unless of course the sun is shining in which case they migrate towards the benches outside on the terrace. Now…when the sun is shining, the spirits are up too ! Loud giggling and raised voices can be heard all over the place, mothers enthousiastically sharing their midweek’s stories !

These are the days I love most.
These are the days I prosper.

I seem to get such energy from listening to these wonderful women and mothers. Hearing all of their worries and insecurities, as well as many of their great joys and adventures in life. Realising we are all different, yet so alike.
We will discuss anything on these sunny afternoon’s, from school problems to bikini waxing, from men to dating experiences, from travel trips to home improvement advice. Yes, as you can imagine enough food for hilarious conversations and various thoughts and opinions.

We laugh and sometimes even cry at moments like these…and the sense of ‘belonging’ is a strong one. All living the same life, with the same struggles and the same hurdles, yet finding the purpose of it all in being good mothers, wives, girlfriends, singles, daughters, sisters, friends, and women. It is a strong bond we share, one that is rarely understood by men.  We know the value of spending time with our children, of making sacrifices, of driving them around so that they get a chance at as much as possible in life.
We know we’re all in the same boat when it comes to this type of devotion and love. And yet we truthfully admit that at times, it’s hard, and difficult to endure. We share our frustrations in the knowledge that we will not be judged but listened to, not be criticised but supported, not feel the outcast but just a ‘mom’ like any other….

To you, my wonderful friends I give my thanks for your unconditional friendship ! And to all the women out there, have a wonderful International Women’s Day !