Maddie's Mind - Blog
I’ve always wanted the fairy-tale. Most little girls do the moment they are read storybooks at bedtime that feature a fairy godmother and a glass slipper. For my best friend Polly and I it was when her dad bought her a VHS copy of Sleeping Beauty and we sat plonked in front of the TV utterly mesmerized by the story. Aurora had it all: born a princess with 3 fairy godmothers and then BAM, when she reached 16 years old, she passes out for 100 years and is woken by a handsome prince with an epic true loves kiss. That is an amazing story. It was my favourite, but they never said what comes after the kiss. Happy ever after, what’s that? In an animated world, it’s a dance around a grand hall with the townsfolk cheering and a beautiful orchestra finale song to play out the ending. I lived in the real world. That just doesn’t happen. Ever since watching those movies as a child I wanted marriage, babies maybe even a castle and a pet pony with a pink mane but I lived in Bounty, the most boring town on the planet. When I got to that awkward teenage stage you know when Sleeping Beauty (she’s called that for a reason) was getting her smooches with Prince Phillip, I was sitting in front of the class being ignored. Polly had a bit more action with the boys than I did, flirting oozed from her fingertips, but I decided to leave her to it. I worked my butt off in school, got out of town and forgot all about those childhood dreams. I grew up.
Picking a career was quite hard for me in that I still wanted to work with kids, but I was too squeamish for nursing (always passing out when I gave blood) and I didn’t want to teach either. Those were the only 2 options I was given thanks to a non- existent positive role model in my guidance counsellor Mrs. Ball who spent more time refereeing the after-school netball team than guiding her students in achieving good career prospects. I ended up in events. Miles away from working with children I know! Planning people’s weddings, proms that kind of thing. I was president of my school’s prom committee and any other event in school had to have my seal of approval, so I thought that was my God given talent, be in chance of stuff. The boys may have ignored me as a love interest, but they needed me to plan their parties. I wasn’t going to make a botched job. It was my calling!
I studied at college in events management taking in as much experience as possible and where did I end up when I graduated? Bounty – my hometown. I came home from the big city of Manchester to plan my cousins wedding and have stayed here ever since. I have coordinated most of my old school classmate’s weddings that there are no singletons left in this town so naturally I have wounded up full circle back to where I originally wanted to work: with kids, as in babies for I am now Bounty’s unofficial baby shower planner and I have been very busy lately but those childhood dreams of being Princess Aurora with the castle and pony have returned and a baby is the top of my dream list again. My problem? I’m completely single and ready to finally mingle but chances of meeting my prince are rapidly decreasing and apparently my ‘biological clock’ is ticking. Maybe my fairy godmother is on her holidays and I am destined to be a spinster forever.
