Walk like a lady.

On our way to school this morning we saw a little girl (probably about 10 years old) walking to school with this high heel shoes, funny thing is that it seemed like she was having a hard time walking with them and it brought back some memories from my childhood. I used to wear my mom's shoes all the time and the shoes she kept for my cousin too. The shoes were beautiful, all kinds of colors, all kinds of styles and I used look in the mirror and imagine myself as a grown up. I think every little girl dreams of growing up some day and looking like one of those models on TV and walking like them. Well my dream came true when I was about 15 years old. At the end of school year back in 1991, my cousin signed up for modeling school, her brother was paying for it and he was always so nice to me and offered to sign me up as well and pay for the whole thing.
I was really excited about it and could hardly wait to go there. It wasn't until I showed up there that I realized what a different world that was for me. They had all kinds of classes, they taught us how to set a table, how to eat with all the different kinds of silverware, how to apply make up (thank goodness for that), how to talk in front of people and most importantly how to do the cat walk. The walking thing was the most exciting thing because before that I did not dear to wear high heel shoes, did not want to look silly with them. The whole experience was very interesting and I learned a lot, we had to put a dance show together and then performed in front of the whole school.
They got us ready to put on a fashion show for our graduation day and that meant to come up with our own walk and do all the cute turns, and stuff like that. We went to try our outfits on one day and it felt so good because we were the important people at the store trying out all kinds of outfits. All the girls there were so pretty and I always felt out of place but I tried to enjoy it anyways. We also had the opportunity to meet a former Miss Guatemala and she gave us some pointers.
The big day came and I was so nervous, my group consisted of 3 people, my cousin, some other girl and me. We were told that they were taping the fashion show and it was going to air on TV, that didn't help since I got more nervous than before. I know that I wasn't the most talented girl on that stage but when I walked down that T shaped stage I felt good and did the whole thing without a single mistake. It was nerve racking but I did it. I forgot all about the cameras and the people staring at me, I kept with the beat of the music and kept telling myself to walk like a lady. I did it. I never saw myself on TV, my mom came to see me at this fancy hotel where they had the fashion show and she was so proud of me.
At then end of the show my cousin asked me if modeling was something I wanted to pursue in my life and if so he would pay for me to go there regularly, but after spending 1 month with all those people and getting to know what a crazy and superficial world it was I thanked him but decided not to do it. It was a good experience and I learned how to walk with high heels. I wish I had pictures of that day, I don't even remember what I wore. At least I can teach Shayna how to walk with high heels some day so she doesn't look awkward or anything like that.
I am thankful for the experiences I had growing up, even if it something as silly as to learn how to walk.