My Journey to Mrs. Oklahoma, Run Forest, Run

Following our photo shoot, we were encouraged to change back into normal clothes and meet in the auditorium for orientation. 

"Wait, normal clothes?"

It suddenly occurred to me that all of my clothes (including undergarments) were in the back of my car, parked across the street.  Aside from that, my pretty little sundress was upstairs on the opposite end of the building.  Wearing 6" heels, running in them was not an option.  I had one of two options at this point.  1)Wear my suit under my dress for the rest of the day, risking that all of the sequins would fall off and potentially ruin my shot of getting to wear it on stage the next day, or 2)run barefoot outside (in the freezing cold), in my swimsuit. 

At the time, it sounded much better to do the second.  Thus, I took off my shoes and ran as fast as I could down the beautiful steps of the Scottish Rites Temple.  Only to heighten my embarrassment, I ran in front of three adolescent boys that sat right outside the door.  The more I ran, the higher my suit decided to rise in the back and the redder my face became. 

"Did you see that?  Did you see that?" one of the boys stated.

He continued to raise his voice as he shared that, "this is the temple we need to worship at because that is something to worship." 

My head went down as I made my way from my car back inside, but this boy had no shame. 

"Stop staring, you're making it obvious," his friend stated.

"It is supposed to be obvious," he finished as I ran inside.

Well, there is nothing quite like an ego boost to make you forget about your flaws.  As silly as it sounds, I think that was exactly what I needed to hear to realize that no one sees the little things I find when I look in the mirror. 

I continued to run upstairs and all modesty went out the window as I rushed into my clothes to avoid being late to orientation.