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Hope she gets that Miss America crown in January!
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Date Posted: 14:11:06 12/09/05 Fri
December 7th, 2005
Merry Christmas from Virginia! I know, I know... but at least I didn’t start that in October. It’s less than twenty days away! We got the first snow of the season this week, and I was almost thrilled. I say ‘almost’ because, when it snows in Northern Virginia, they’ll warn everyone of the impending blizzard-doom, the world panics and buys all the milk and water in the stores, and we get an inch. I was just explaining this to my Miss America girls. We got an e-mail from headquarters that allowed us to compile a master list of our addresses, and now we can’t get enough of each other. I am one of the lucky few that has a wireless laptop, so I can even keep in touch when so constantly on the road. I envy Minnesota, Alaska, Wyoming... all the girls that are enjoying buckets of a White Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, I am going to concentrate on saying that about fourteen times a day, maybe all year. Why? There are so many officials in Virginia, and all over the country, who have banned the word ‘Christmas.’ Target, for instance; and I love Target. Now we have to say ‘Holiday.’ The trees at the White House are ‘Holiday’ trees. "Oooohhh Holiday Tree, Oh, Holiday Treee!" What’s next, Jingle Metal Objects That Ring? Holiday means Holy Day, I wonder if they realize that in their bureaucratic madness.
At any rate, being Miss Virginia this year makes Christmas incredibly special. I think that it’s because I am exposed to so many different kinds of people, and so many rural and beautiful places in Virginia to which I would, otherwise, never have seen. Most of all, it’s the children. They are so cute. I would play The Snow Fairy Princess every day if they let me.
After the Lions Club presentation, where I left off last week, I had a Right Decisions, Right Now presentation at Glenvar Middle School. I had a really great time with those kids. They were a particularly interesting group with very bright ideas and comments. I did three presentations, and during the third one, rain started pelting the roof of the auditorium so hard that I couldn’t even hear myself. I made some funny jokes about it, though, once I got a microphone and was audible again. There was a lot of press at this appearance, which made me think of this tidbit for next year’s Miss Virginia: you typically don’t know when there will be press around, so don’t wake up on those early Right Decisions, Right Now mornings and think, "I will slum it today. The kids like that." Nope. The press doesn’t. Luckily, I have not done that yet. Although I very often do wake up on Right Decisions, Right Now days and want to wear jeans and Birkenstocks.
I brought my car in to Friendly Lincoln Mercury last week, and it looks like I will be trading her in for a new one soon. I have put 27,000 miles on that car since I won in June. That doesn’t, obviously, account for any other travel I have made, in the air or in another car, for instance. I have really covered some ground, haven’t I! I always love to visit them. They are all so welcoming and kind.
When I left Mercury, I drove to Kingsport, Tennessee, for another wardrobe session at The Encounter. Ethel’s has been my official wardrobe house for each of my national pageants now. This trip is, by far, the best. I am overwhelmed at the quality and class of what she has compiled. It’s great that she knows me so well. Seven years of working with me has given her an exact idea of what I like and the things in which I best perform. It is like my dreams have been manifested in fabrics. My competition gown is my favorite. Also, I picked a certain gown out of a magazine years ago, and have wanted it ever since. She is having it made for me! I almost cried when we worked with the base the last time I was there. I just can’t believe I have it!
I have picked out everything but my interview suit. Tom and I may make the trek up to New York City next week for that. I love New York at Christmastime. I also want to stop in Atlantic City and see the Miss America exhibits at the Sheraton. I didn’t know this until recently: there are gowns, crowns, and memorabilia of past Miss Americas on display. And I want to go ice skating at Rockefeller (you know, so I can break an ankle less than a month before Miss America... good one, Kristi).
I had a lovely December 1st... I went to Zee’s Salon and Day Spa to be pampered with a massage, facial, and manicure. That will be the hardest thing to let go of! Massages at a moment’s notice! Endra usually gives me all of my treatments, and I just love her. She just had a baby, and I gave her a sweet baby blanket which she now calls The Miss Virginia Blanket. I thought, "Wouldn’t it be neat for that girl to be Miss Virginia herself one day, and to have that blanket?"
On December 3rd, I experienced something very special. I was in the Christmas Parade in Bedford, Virginia, which is special because it may be a very familiar city to all of you out there, maybe if you’ve read the book "The Bedford Boys," or have seen "Saving Private Ryan." Bedford, Virginia suffered the nation’s most severe losses on D-Day of 1944. They are aptly named The Bedford Boys. The following is a short history from the website(http://www.dday.org/):
Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers... to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard's... 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies, including one who, two years earlier, had been reassigned from the 116th Infantry to the First Infantry Division. Thus he had already landed in both Northern Africa and Sicily before coming ashore on D-Day at Omaha Beach with the Big Red One. Company A of the 116th Infantry assaulted Omaha Beach as part of the First Division's Task Force O. By day's end, nineteen of the company's Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford's population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation's severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.
You can buy the book on that website, also. The town was small, quaint, very bucolic, and likely looks exactly like it did in 1944. It was decorated for Christmas, and was so beautiful. But, as I rode through the parade, I couldn’t take my mind off of the history of the town, or my eye off of the monument looming in the distance. Every house I passed, I would wonder if a solider had lived there. The town is still so embedded in its history that I could very vividly picture a knock at each one of those doors, "Ma’am, you have a telegram," and the scene that accompanied those words in 1940s America. The monument itself looks like a giant alien landing pad that fell out of the sky and on top of a southern mountain. It is huge, and makes one feel very small. It is very beautiful, but it's when you actually get out of the car, and brave the cold marble, that you understand what you came for. Most of the monument is in water, to symbolize the five beach landings. The effects are as though bullets are constantly hitting the water. If you didn't know where you were, you would truly think you were under fire. It's extremely intense. There is a rock wall of statues of Rangers. My Uncle John was a Ranger, was awarded by the President, and was featured in several memorial services, including one back at Normandy. The Rangers were the ones to climb the cliffs to the beaches. The statues there are incredible. They are larger than life, and carry real expression on their faces. One depicts a fallen soldier, in the water, with a Bible laying open by his head. He represents The Bedford Boys. One in particular watched his friend fall, and took his knapsack off his back to bring home. There was a Bible in the knapsack, which he returned to the boy's mother. There are allusions to this in "Saving Private Ryan."
I had a lovely time at the Ronald McDonald Christmas Event, the next day. It was cold at this outdoor event. I was able to say a few words before the lighting of the Lights of Love Christmas Tree. Ronald McDonald House is a home for families whose children are undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals. I based the message around the saying "the house that love built," reflecting on the fact that we are the house that love built. We, as His people, are the ones building on His love every day. And also that, in our troubled times, in the words of one of my favorite songs, we should "Thank Him Even Then," because we know that He is walking with us. It was a great moment to be amongst an audience that I knew would appreciate spiritual words, especially at Christmastime.
Thank you all so much for prayers about my health. I finally, finally found out what had me down for almost a month. Well, I shouldn't say it had me down at all, because I was a great Miss Virginia right on through it - sickness and all! I went to a specialist in Roanoke, and he said I had the worst sinus infection that he had ever seen! I was on something like thirteen pills a day for a week to get rid of that. And now, I am completely well, and so happy about it! It was a good reminder to be thankful in this season for the fact that I am a healthy person. If a sinus infection is the worst of my problems, and I get right through it, I am in good shape.
Tonight was a great evening. I went to The Nutcracker at The Kennedy Center with Scarlotte Deupree, Miss Alabama 2002 and First Runner-Up to Miss America that year. I had such a great time. She just moved here with her husband, so we will have the opportunity to do this a lot!
Lastly, I want to congratulate a very good friend of mine on her newest and very well-deserved victory. Adrianna Sgarlata won Miss Arlington on Saturday. She literally brought the audience to tears during her talent performance. Men were crying. She looked as beautiful as I have ever seen her. Congrats to all of our lovely local winners - what a beautiful year for Miss Virginia 2006!
Much Love, Kristi ><>
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