Queen for a Day

I want a tiara

It's common for the young people here to pin money to their shirt on their birthday. The idea is, your mom, sister, BFF, etc. gives you money first thing in the morning and you pin it on. Then when other people see it, they know it's Your Special Day and they give you money too. It's not unheard of for people to seed their cash corsage with a twenty of their own to impress, but mostly other people go along with it and by the end of the day you have a respectable little sum pinned to your shirt.

But today I saw something new: a birthday girl had a tiara. She was also dressed up in a cute little ruffled dress with a jacket and some killer leopard heels, but it was the tiara that drew everyone's attention. Ironically, I have a tiara. My grandfather gave it to my mom for her birthday (16? 18? I don't know. One of those milestone ones). But a middle-aged woman walking around with a sparkly tiara is going to draw a lot of looks, and not the ones that girl was getting today. More like a isn't-she-sad-for-not-knowing-she-looks-like-a-fool-I-wonder-if-she's-homeless sort of look. Especially if I paired it with leopard heels. The only times someone my age can get away with a sparkly crown that's not an ironic statement are if she's getting married (people are very forgiving of what drunk bachelorettes do, whatever their age) or if she is part of this outstanding parade

which I have a goal of someday attending, if not actually participating in.

Maybe pointy party hats and cupcakes (or cupcake martinis) for everyone could make a comeback in the office culture. We need SOMETHING to look forward to now that birthdays are losing their zing.