My Mom and I shared the same dream about seeing myself in the lace dress so one day she made it happen, even when it was an expensive dream for her to bring to reality. There was a place in Holguin (the province where I was born) where you could have your picture taken wearing a princess dress. My Mom made the reservation for Saturday Monday and at 8:00 AM sharp we were both there.
It turned out that my Mom and I weren't the only dreamers, there were like a hundred of us in the place!! The house was loud and ready with all the elements to make you feel like a real princess: "fancy" furniture, "glass" (plastic) lamps, "antique" (plaster) sculptures...The only little wrong thing was: THE PHOTOGRAPHER!
The gentleman seemed to come out from a horror movie. And it wasn't exactly because of his funny teeth, mustache, hair style and shoes...it was just that he didn't get the point of the princess-for-a-day- experience at all. He was a magic killer! That man didn't stop screaming for a second: HURRY. HURRY, HURRY!! COME ON, NEXT ONE, NEXT ONE! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY, HURRY, HURRY, COME ON....
Every girl was photographed by the same lamp, in the same position and probably with the same expression as mine. The whole thing took about a minute per customer. It was like a princess dream industry on fire!! We got out of there as soon as we could, but more girls kept arriving.
Then, after a few weeks, we finally got the "wonderful" photograph of Elsita as a princess. My Mom kept this photo for all these years as if it was a real treasure and I am so glad that she did! Now this photo is Bill's property, she gave it to him as a present for his birthday :) Yay!! It is one of the very few pictures of myself from those dark and fun times in Cuba :)
The End :)






