Second Attendant Sounds First-Rate To Me

When she was 7 years old, my daughter Ruth wanted to run for class representative in her second grade class. She was so excited.

Me, not so much.

See, we had just moved to a new neighborhood. She was new to the school. And she was (and is) black. We adopted her from Haiti when she was four.

That’s great, Sweety. I hope you do well.

But, inside, I was dying. I was afraid my baby girl would be disappointed.

To her joy and Daddy’s relief, she won.

About a month ago, my daughter came to my lovely wife and me and announced that she was competing in the Miss Pleasant Grove pageant. This pageant is part of the Miss America organization. The winner of Miss Pleasant Grove will go on to compete in the Miss Utah pageant. And the girl who wins Miss Utah will compete in Miss America.

In fact, we know the current reigning Miss Pleasant Grove. She’s a wonderful girl whose parents live in our neighborhood. She tall, blond and like most of Utah, she’s white. And she’s a beautiful girl.

My daughter is also a beautiful girl. But, she’s not tall. She’s definitely not blond and, as I mentioned, she has a slightly darker complexion than most people in Utah. She was so excited.

Me, not so much.

But, MAO pageants have very strict rules and strict judging criteria. My daughter did her fundraising, even writing a wonderful letter to my Mason’s lodge requesting sponsorship. She had a community outreach project called “Every kit counts” that focused on providing basic toiletries and other necessities to needy people here in the USA and elsewhere, including Ukraine.

Saturday was the competition. There were ten girls competing. Ruth performed last in each event. For the talent portion she sang a beautiful rendition of Beyonce’s hit “I Was Here.”

During the interview portion the girls have to answer a question from the panel of judges. We watched many of the girls nervously attempt to answer various questions about the pageant and what they would do if they won. Ruth was last. Her question was,

How can you help other people be their best selves?

I held my breath, but needn’t have worried.

I can help other people be their best selves by being my best self. I can help others feel confident in being themselves by showing them it’s okay because I’m being authentic.

Her answer was much better than what I’ve written here.

The last event was the evening dress competition. The girls in the competition were between the ages of 17 and 25. My daughter is short. She’s always been short. And to make up for it, she wears high heels. She’s been wearing them since the 7th grade. She even wore high heeled tennis shoes.

The evening dress competition is all about moving gracefully. . .In high heels.

At the end of the competition the positions are announced in reverse order. First announced was the Second Assistant. And they named my little girl.

I didn’t really catch who was named 1st Attendant or Miss Pleasant Grove.

Second Assistant sounded pretty good to me.

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here

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I WAS HERE by Beyonce

I want to leave my footprints on the sands of time

Know there was something that, something that I left behind

When I leave this world, I’ll leave no regrets

Leave something to remember, so they won’t forget

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know I was here

I wanna say I lived each day, until I died

I know that I had something in somebody’s life

The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I leave

That I made a difference and this world will see

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here

I just want them to know

That I gave my all, did my best

Brought someone some happiness

Left this world a little better just because

I was here

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I wanna leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done

I was here,

I lived,

I loved,

I was here

I did, I’ve done

I was here