Mr. Right meets the parents

this is a blog i originally wrote in 2006, that we posted on our personal blog. (btw - mr. right keeps wanting me to update it and i keep saying i'm busy - with this blog :P)

I have been in many different types of performances, but this was like nothing I had ever done before. I reapplied my makeup before stepping into my cotton candy pink dress. I stepped into the box, felt myself being lifted up, and then the waiting began.

My heart raced as I sat there. I could blame the nervousness on the 6,000 people that would see me, in just a few moments, pop out of the box and dance with Santa Claus. I could point the finger at the Mountain Dew I drank 15 minutes prior to show time.

The real culprit? My boyfriend of barely a week was introducing himself to my parents for the first time, and I wasn’t there to see how things went down.


I am heavily involved in my offic'es Winter Kickoff event, put together by one of the departments I work for. The event includes performances of local dance troupes and choirs, carnivals and games, pictures with Santa, and various other activities throughout the night.

The evening culminates with the lighting ceremony, and this year, our lights were going to be “magically” switched on by the Mayor. As with any performance, we had several rehearsals before the big show.

Our first meeting with the magician, was in October, on Friday the 13th. Unfortunately for me, I fit into his magic box perfectly, and would be used as one of his lovely assistants. Torturing...um...Utilizing me in this manner would save my employeer a significant amount of money.

Later that day I met Mr. Right for the first time. So when he asked “Did you have a good day at work today?” I certainly had an interesting answer for him!

In later rehearsals, he and I traded text messages, me complaining that it was too cold to be in that tiny dress, him offering to warm me up-promising me a cup of coffee after the event. Once he realized what exactly was happening, he decided that if I was going to pop out of a box in a cute little dress, he was going to be there to watch.

As I was eating dinner (and drinking my Mountain Dew), he called to let me know that he had gotten home from work and would be heading this direction. Not familiar with the Sevierville area, he needed directions to get to the event site. He said that he could probably be there by 7:15, I had to be dressed and in my box by 7. If he got lost and needed help finding it, I wouldn’t be able to get to my phone and help him out. I had no choice but to give him my parents’ cell phone numbers.

I finished up my dinner, got into costume and headed toward the stage. I crawled into my box, felt the box being lifted up to the stage, and I waited. When I heard the children shrieking I knew that the Grinch was repelling down from the top of Tower One, a fire truck with a bucket that reaches heights of 100ft.

Then I heard the excitement of the kids as Santa made his way toward the stage. Finally it was my turn. I prayed that I didn’t fall on my face as I crawled out of the box and added a quick prayer that I didn’t flash the crowd my naughty bits during my dance with Santa as he spun me around.

I exited the stage and headed back to our makeshift dressing room. I then headed into the crowd to find my parents and Mr. Right. When he had called my dad to find out where they were sitting, they immediately found one thing they had in common: neither of them go anywhere (excluding church) without his baseball hat firmly upon his head. They traded hat colors and kept an eye out for each other as Mr. Right made his way toward the seating area in front of the stage. As to their exact conversation, I still don’t know what was said. But the initial reaction from both was favorable.

My parents hung around long enough to say hello, and then headed home. Mr. Right stuck around and graciously helped with clean up. I was running on adrenaline from the night’s events so I was in high gear, but I did manage to introduce him to a couple of my friends. While there wasn’t much time for chatting, they were both impressed with his willingness to volunteer for clean up, something that many of the workers who are getting paid usually aren’t willing to do.

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