Me? A Pageant mother?

It is true.

No, I am not sending a toddler out onto the stage in full on makeup and adult dance moves prey to the child predators.

My youngest daughter who just turned eighteen much to the heartache of her mother, is running for Miss Strawberry days.

I admit, the thought of girls parading up and down the stage to be ogled by the audience is a bit unnerving. However the benefits of the program surpass any uneasiness.
For a single mother, a scholarship for a daughter is a big deal.

In addition to the pageant event, the girls are required to create a platform. Despite the confusing title, a platform is a chance for the girls to get creative and come up with their own activity which will get them motivated to service, and potentially help them to raise funds for a charity of their choice.
It is such a great project.
One girl will be tutoring illiterate children and adults.

My daughter, has taken on a huge challenge.
In the next month, just two months prior to her high school graduation, she will be directing, producing, and presenting a small community play. All proceeds to be offered to handicapped individuals, more specifically the Special Olympics.

She will be auditioning, directing and creating the set and stage for a cute little play that she herself wrote.

I was nervous. She has had history of procrastination, of leaving tasks incomplete. But so far, she has impressed me. The scripts are written, edited and copied. She has already made arrangements for the venue, the props and the costumes.
Auditions will be held tomorrow and then the practices will begin.

She is a beautiful girl, inside and out but I could not be more proud of her initiative and organization.

The most amazing thing is that this will all be concurrent with graduation, a drama club performance of 'Children of Eden' and all the other activities that fall into your last few months of high school.

And, unlike most pageants and children's productions and activities, it didn't cost us an arm and a leg in order to win a small scholarship.

I wish her luck in the pageant, of course I think she is the most beautiful, and talented of the bunch. But the benefits she gets from this go well beyond the scholarship money.
I could not be more proud.