Unlimited beauty!

I think it's past time for an uplifting story.

Last Saturday (May 7) was the third annual Miss Unlimited Pageant. For those of you who don't know about it, the Miss Unlimited Pageant is currently the sole focus of the Miss Unlimited Foundation (www.missunlimited.org). The pageant participants are girls with disabilities which  fulfills Miss Unlimited's goals of celebrating beauty everywhere.

It started in 2014, just a few months after Maggie passed away. I didn't know anything about it at that time. My friend Mary Casey told me about it last year and insisted I needed to contact Michelle Wynn, the founder and executive director. I did so and was tangentially involved last year as a volunteer. It was wonderful, but, to be honest, it was a bit difficult for me emotionally. I was there all day until the pageant started and then left because it was too hard.

I told Steve about it and said, "Maggie would have LOVED this."  When I thought about that, I immediately got more involved. I joined the Board of Directors and have been working closely with Michelle and Scott Hu, the other director since last years pageant.

The 2016 pageant was bigger and better than last year - and last year was pretty damn good. Michelle is a teacher at St Ignatius High School (SI) and many of the SI students work on this all year long. The girls become  buddies to the participants and the boys, dressed in tuxes, are the escorts for the evening. For those of you who are my age, Think "Mystery Date."  Every boy is the dreamboat a girl dreams of.  There is an emcee and  panel of judges made of  of dignitaries from San Francisco and the whole thing is very upbeat.

Because of my friends in the disabled world, I was able to encourage a couple of Maggie's friends to participate as well as other girls I know from being a part of that world. It was fantastic. Every single participant was grinning from ear to ear. Some danced, some sang, some read poetry, some did nothing but appear. My friend Gia wore her inner tube throughout the pageant and stole everyone's heart.

 Every single girl was amazing and beautiful. Everyone had a great time. Everyone won.

The crowd is made up mostly of family members and friends of the participants who get to hoot and holler for their girls in a way that just doesn't happen for this population or for their parents.  Everyone enjoys themselves and you see hundreds of people smiling, proud and happy of these girls that are too often overlooked in our society.

This year was not without emotion for me. I watched these girls light up and I missed Maggie with every fiber of my being. This dance was particularly difficult/wonderful because this is exactly how my sons danced with Maggie and she laughed just as hard as Ashlynn did here. (Her dance partner "Mr. Matt" works in her classroom and paired with two other contestants as well)

 I cried my eyes out in the audience and then applauded as loudly as I could. I missed Maggie and I was so so happy for what I was seeing.

That was fine. Nearly every other person in the room was crying at some point and applauding as loudly as they could too.

I encourage everyone to check out Miss Unlimited and support it if you can. We are looking at ways to expand this and hope to do a pageant in other areas. A couple of things are already in the works. Jump on this bandwagon!!

Miss Unlimited

Here is something I never thought I would say: I will be attending my first ever beauty pageant on May 9. It is the Second Annual Miss Unlimited Pageant. No, I am not a contestant; it's not quite THAT unlimited. This pageant is for young women with a disability.

I heard about this after it happened last year, but it was right after we lost Maggie and I was in too much of a fog to look into it. This year the organizer Michelle Wynn, reached out to me, and I'm so glad she did. Because I know how these things can go, I warned here that some in the disabled community might not like this because it is a segregated event and there are many who simply want disability to be part of the overall tapestry of the world, and not its own category. Her response cemented this for me, She basically said, I know there are people who won't like it, but the girls love it and that's enough for me.

Amen, sister.

Let's face it, inclusion will take a generation or more to happen. If we wait for that, we lose an entire generation of opportunities to make people happy. There are things we can do now, so let's do them. We can celebrate real beauty and stop ignoring a whole subset of the population, so let's just do it.

The Miss Unlimited organization describe it best on their website www.missunlimited.org which you should check out in full,

 All too often we are taught to believe in a false definition of what it means  to be beautiful, casting aside the essential values of real beauty; strength, kindness, and confidence, the qualities that make us all radiant.  
The Miss Unlimited Pageant was founded on the principles of empowering the true beauty and unlimited potential of girls with special needs. The pageant provides the opportunity for these young girls to be celebrated for all they are inside, and not just defined by what the world sees on the outside.

I love this idea for many reasons. It is a chance for these young women to be pampered and celebrated, something that just doesn't happen often enough to girls with special needs - or to any of us. On a separate point Michelle Wynn is a teacher at St. Ignatius High School and the event will take place at Sacred Heart High School thus giving the Catholic school community a much needed entry into the world of special needs. Catholic schools and private schools in general have very limited ability (or interest) in providing special education, therefore depriving themselves and their students of a complete understanding of the world of special needs individuals.

 I could list many other reasons, but let's just cut to number 1 - Maggie would have LOVED it. Man oh man, she would have been there front and center having the time of her life. There was nothing better than prom day for her. She loved getting dressed up and heading out for the night. This would have left that in the dust. As Ms Wynn says, that's reason enough for me.

Check out the website and think out getting involved. If you know young women who might be interested, help them fill out an application. If you can donate or volunteer, please do so. It will be a fun day and a chance to make a big difference in the lives of some truly beautiful young women.