The Ballerina

I've always been a dreamer driven by an imaginative mind. Even as a child I would spend long periods of time thinking about the future, trying to visualize what would be awaiting me there. Being the eldest child in my family, and raised by my mother because of an absent father, I enjoyed teasing my mother, telling her funny stories to make her laugh, and sometimes trying to scare her, like putting her lipstick on my face, pretending I had been injured falling down some stairs, just to get her reaction. We lived in a low rent housing project in Los Angeles. My mom was always a wonderful listener, laughed at my jokes even if she heard them before, and a great "straight man" pretending she had really fallen for my pranks. My mom was also a dreamer, in love with movie stars, and always awaiting for her Knight in Shining Armor to arrive. I began making up stories to tell my own children at night before they went to sleep and the practice continues to this day with my grandchildren. Mostly, I tell them funny stories, some filled with fantasy, but their favorite and most requested stories are my "spooky" ones told to them with the lights very dim. I've had wonderful careers and have a Masters Degree in Business. And now, I share with you, my most requested story by both children and adults, "The Ballerina."