My Heroine has a Scent Allergy and I Wore Perfume

Kathy Kinney and Cindy Ratzlaff shared their wisdom and wit with a whole bunch of admirers last night at the Tattered Cover in LoDo. You will never meet two more authentic and admirable women. Admirable in their authenticity. I loved how they shared not just their successes, but their obstacles as well, which happen to be the very same ones that we all have to face down on a regular basis: fear and self-doubt.

When we walked in they gave us big smiles and welcomes. These two famous women. Authors, actresses, executives, icons. They smiled at us and talked to us. I got that warm fuzzy feeling that we all want but rarely admit. And they gave us a pretty pink raffle ticket for a some fun give-aways at the end of the event. One must have included perfume. That's when Kathy mentioned her scent allergy, and I thought, "oh no!". Why did I double back to my vanity (that word should be a good clue) for a squirt of Jo Malone before dashing out the door?

Now I was afraid to go near her, lest I set off an allergic reaction and she discover the error of my ways! How could I schmooze with my heroine if she was having a sneezing attack? So I took a step back, sat in the second row, and just smiled real big, so she'd know how much I liked her.

I am not a girly girl; I barely spend 5 minutes on hair and make-up, well, maybe 7 if it's black-tie. So what possesses me to give into random impulses like cutting my own hair, going on a tweezing tirade, or buying a two-hour teeth whitening kit which flummoxes me when I discover you can't drink wine with whitening trays in your mouth.

My oldest pal Betsy and I used to plan these extravagant makeovers for ourselves every summer break. We would get tan, thin, blonde, and grow our nails. Then we'd show up the first day of school and even if we had succeeded (which we never did), no one would even mention it, because they would all have been doing the same thing themselves! So there we would all be waiting for everyone to exclaim, "Oh, you look so good"! Isn't vanity a mysterious thing?