The revelries I experienced at The Grand Prospect Hall will stay with me forever – 

Running up marble staircases, twirling under chandeliers, flirting with reflections in mirrored walls, hiding in the back gardens, boisterous cheers in the Oak Room, and the night I was given wings. 

It was the evening of the Dances of Vice: Grimm’s Fairytale Ball hosted by enchantress, Shien Lee. 

I entered the ballroom in a sheer silver slip and hair curled like a ziegfeld girl.   

“Breathe, Just Breathe” 

The legendary line from Ever After slipped through my mind as I slowly pulled the silk cords and shimmering diaphanous wings rose above me. I felt like I could fly. The chandeliers became stars and The Grand Prospect Hall had become a castle among the clouds. 

The “Da Vinci”  who had designed the peacock wings was the wildly talented Veritee Hill. Her wearable art has been worn by Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, and Naomi Campbell to name a few.  

There are only a few moments of kismet in my life which inspire this feeling of flight. 

Only later in the evening, I discovered that in famed television commercials, Mr. and Mrs. Halkais trumped with utmost sincerity, “Let us make your dreams come true!”  

There is something to be said of people who believe in the beauty of others’ dreams and although I never had the privilege to meet the couple, I felt the energy they had created permeated that great historic hall… 

That evening was a dream come true.