The Rocket’s Red Glare - Damsel In Dior

Outfits 8 years ago The Rocket's Red Glare

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The Lovers Got Away Milano Knit Dress

The chill from the heavy grey rock that rest below me seeped into my little red dress as I sat on the edge of the lake, feeling jealous of the people paddling by. Surprisingly, with the dozens of visits I’ve made to the city over the past few years I have never taken a spin in one of the row boats. I promised myself that with this visit I would make the effort to take some beautiful photos in one, wearing this red dress, just in time for 4th of July week.

Growing up we would often take road trips to our family river house in Concan, Texas for 4th of July weekend. In the rare event that we didn’t go, Justin {my brother} and I would set up a full fireworks display for my parents, choreographed with our favorite music. Justin and I would start setting up early in the morning. We’d run, barefoot, from the garage of our country house down the long pebbled driveway, placing fireworks by the white mailbox that sat against Farm Road 85. Meanwhile my Mom would be inside cooking up potato salad, and Dad would be on the grill acting silly and trying to make us laugh. Justin and I worked diligently on our project. Justin was, and still is, quite the perfectionist. It was my life’s goal, and still is, to make him smile with pride. Earnestly I did exactly what he said and just as the sun started to set and with a belly full of burgers, the show began. I cannot tell you the songs that were played or the other family members who ended up coming over to watch, but I can tell you about the big mistake that I made when setting off the grand finale. Instead of waiting for my cue and setting off my set between Justin’s set, my nerves got the best of me and I anxiously lit them all at once. Racing away from the quick burning wick, the last words I remember were “Jacey!” before the magic began. Justin and I looked up, several hundred yards away from the family, and what seemed like a million fireworks at the time we witnessed the most beautiful dance I’d ever seen. It was a failure that turned into fortune because I looked over to not only catch my brothers infamous grin but overheard the bursts of joy from the family nearby.

I figured showing up at 6:30pm for the row boats was a sufficient amount of time to catch the sun setting behind me as I rowed, but the nearby restaurant was having an event so I was not allowed to rent one out. My deflated feet carried me down the path of the lake as I strongly considered giving up and heading back. I’d been to this park a hundred times, I didn’t want the same old photos in the same park and I quickly resorted to my inner 8 year old bratty self. The crowds of people were suffocating any other creative ideas that raced through my mind. As I moved around the path the people mysteriously broke off to create a beautiful opening on the bridge that goes over the row boats on the lake.

It wasn’t the perfect moment that I had created in my head, but it turned out perfectly.