Interesting Birthday Appearance

Well ... not an "official" appearance, but an interesting story nevertheless. This past Friday night, Miss Illinois USA showed up at a little girl's 9th birthday party. I thought it would be fun to visit with the girls, talk about what they do at school, encourage them to spend lots of time with their families over the holidays, telling them to help their moms and dads as much as they could because Santa was watching. You know, things you tell little girls! However, 9 year olds aren't the same as they used to be ... or maybe I just don't hang out with 9 year olds enough.

Anyway ... the story:
Kelly, the birthday girl, is the daughter of my mom's close friend. Kelly's mom thought it would be great if I could come by, but she didn't prep me for what to expect (and maybe she didn't know). I walked into a family room full of girls sitting around the couches and floor. When I stepped around the corner adorned in my crown and sash, their eyes lit up unlike any I'd ever seen -- and trust me, my eyes light up a lot because I get excited about everything. I felt like I was Hannah Montana or something by the way they reacted. YIKES!

The girls jumped off their seats, came up to me and started touching me, asking questions and wanting to take pictures without even taking a second to ask my name. I have purely become Miss Illinois USA to them with no care for what I do, what I stand for, who I am, what I can teach them, or anything like that. As much as I was disappointed by the fact that I didn't get to teach them the things I had hoped to while I was there, I was excited about their enthusiasm -- until it got a little weird.

One girl asked me if I lived in a castle, hehe. :) Another asked me if I could tell her where I lived, because she would love to come visit and possibly have a sleepover. One little girl offered me her brother's bedroom in the basement, "since he just moved away to college, and there is plenty of room for all of your stuff," she said. But after all of the cute questions were asked and all of my thoughts about, "Aww, aren't they so adorable," wore off ... their inner creeps came out to play.

One girl asked me if I could please provide her with my fingerprints. Later, when we were eating the cake, the same little girl asked me if I could put frosting on my lips and kiss a piece of paper for her. She also asked me to write down my birthday, my boyfriend's name, what town I'm from, how tall I was, and what my favorite color was. I was just waiting for her to ask my blood type! It was bizarre!

Then the little girls thought it would be a great idea if I were to hold them. Literally, 9 year old girls wanted to crawl into my arms like 6 month old babies while I rocked them back and forth. It's cute that they admired me and wanted to be near me, but it was most definitely a unique request. Later, they decided it would be fun to wear my high heeled black mid-calf boots around the house ... so each of them took a turn wearing my boots, which came all the way up to their knees or further for most of them. It was sweet, and they were very excited to be wearing "big girl shoes!" Haha.

To make a long story short, it was an interesting experience filled with good points and bad, although all points that I will always remember. I hope Kelly will always remember her birthday party, and I hope the girls will remember it as well. Even though I didn't get to teach them anything specifically, hopefully I taught them what it means to be friendly and kind, and how not to give strangers your finger or lip prints, lol. :)