CINDERELLA SYNDROME

Coming home from a perfect vacation -- also known as "snapping back into reality" -- is no different than Cinderella's gorgeous gown suddenly morphing back to tattered rags at the stroke of midnight after the prince's ball, her beautiful coach once more a mere pumpkin.

Reality-- after vacating one's life and responsibilites for nearly 10 days -- bites.

"But it's not like this all the time," my friend Holly assured me before I left Cinci. "No one gets together unless you come to town."

And Linda swears she doesn't spend every waking, sunny hour by her pool, that life in Blue Ash, OH isn't all Starbucks Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Grandes and LaRosa's Pizza.

I know, I know.

But God, it was great to see everyone, to stop the dizzying carousel we call life, relax, laugh, have fun...and seeing Fountain Square and the rest of Cinci's downtown by horse-drawn carriage?

Like I always say, girls just wanna have fun. Especially 50-year-old girls.

Oh, well...

I must unpack my suitcase of memories, don my grocery schlepping garb, throw in a load of laundry...pay some bills... feed the cat...walk the dog...


Maestro, a little something from the Elton John 70s archives, please...

I hope the day will be a lighter highway
For friends are found on every road
Can you ever think of any better way
For the lost and weary travellers to go...

Making friends for the world to see
Let the people know you got what you need
With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything's all right...

It seems to me a crime that we should age
These fragile times should never slip us by
A time you never can or shall erase
As friends together watch their childhood fly...