The lesson of the red ballet shoes- 18th Feb 2012

Remy, Molly and Kristian blowing out the candles 

All those years ago when I stood next to Remy Van Staveren's mum in an eight-year-olds ballet class (she was the one wearing the glamorous red shoes), I never imagined I'd be watching her blow out the candles on her son's first birthday cake. This is how I spent my Saturday and I couldn't be happier. There is something special about watching your friends achieve their dreams. Seeing my dear friend Molly so happy with her sweet baby and husband made me happy in return. It's nice to see karma reward good people. 

The caterpillar cake

To this day I still remember a valuable lesson that came out of that ballet class all those years ago. Molly was wearing the most amazing ballet slippers I had ever seen. They were red, and to me they were exotic and glamorous. I was wearing pink ballet slippers, the same as everyone else in the room. I spent the entire class wishing I had the red shoes that were different to everyone else. It wasn't until years later that Molly confessed she had been standing next to me wishing she had my pink shoes on so she looked the same as everyone else. So often we don't appreciate what we have, nor do we realise someone else would swap us in an instant because they appreciate it.