Secret Confession

I had been looking forward to last weekend for a while - not because it was suppose to snow or because it was any ol weekend but because the Miss America pagaent was going to be on TV. I have watched the Miss America pagaent every year since I can remember.

I can remember different years that I have watched it - in elementary school when we all dressed up like pageant girls, in high school with some friends and we all wore tiaras and more recenlty with my Aunt Janie. There for a while, the pagaent was a special time for me and Aunt Janie to get together and watch it.

We had a system for watching the pageant. When the girls first announced themselves we would write down our favorites and then cross the girls out as they were eliminated. We would cheer or boo at the TV when the judges made their decisions. We would then pick who we "just knew" was going to be crowned.


We always cheered for Miss Arkansas of course. I can remember weird things about the Arkansas girls. Like both this year and last year Miss Arkansas got eliminated after the swimsuit round.

Also, since in college, I knew a lot of the girls who were competing in the Miss Arkansas pageant so most of those years I knew who was competing for our state at the national pageant.

Ok here it goes,....my secret confession: I always wished I was a pageant girl.

I didn't want to be one because of the compeition or anything like that. I just wanted an excuse to get dolled up, put on a pretty dress and wear a crown. When I was younger I was secretly mad at my parents for not putting me in pageants. All that time wasted when I could have been in training to be the next Miss America.

I do think pageant girls do a lot of good for their communities and help make as big of a difference as they can. Some compete just to compete but some compete to change the world (world peace duh!).

These days I see the drama around the world of pageants....beauty queens getting stripped of their crowns because of nude photos and drugs and moms putting fake teeth on and spray tanning their 3 year olds.

Last year when Miss California USA got harrassed because she stated her belieft that gay marriage is wrong on stage at the Miss USA pageant, I felt sorry for her. Since when has a person's free speech and own beliefs been criticized in this country. Hello...it's the First Amendment in our constitution!!! I guess either way she would have answered that question she would have gotten crap thrown at her from one side or the other.

Today, in light of all the drama, you couldn't pay me to enter a pageant but probaby 10 years ago, maybe even 5 years ago, I would have done it in a heart beat.

Ok you can now start making fun of me....