UNLIMITED IN THE BIG APPLE

I loved the Mary Tyler Moore show as a little girl. One of my big dreams was to go to New York and shop for pretty dresses, hopefully with roses patterned on them, and spin on the sidewalk, while singing “gonna make it after all!”

I'm so glad someone else had that fantasy as well. Most people I've mentioned that dream to look at me as if I am intellectually challenged, in the worst way.

I actually made that dream come true. It was a chilly day in early May 2005. I went to the Big Apple for a big Broadway holiday, where about ten dreams came true. I didn't buy rose-patterned dresses; I bought this terrific full blue-denim dress that was super cool, plus two formal gowns at a prom shop where I was in heaven, and a paste tiara.

I had my shopping bags in hand just like MTM, and waited until the sidewalk was almost bare. Checked out my look in a Fifth Avenue shop window. Thought, yes, it's now or never time, and spun around with the dress bags and boxes in my hand, singing like the world's greatest diva in my head.

I had no hat on. I was wearing a black and white houndstooth skirt suit, and I looked as good as I was ever gonna get at 39.

A few yellow taxis beeped their horns and gave me a wave, while shopkeepers and pedestrians peered at me. It was as if my twirl was nothing too out there, and I was just another strange lady, happy as a clam spinning like Mary Tyler Moore near Broadway.

I looked up and saw a bunch of balloons in the air nearby. There were thousands of them. I followed the balloons to the MythBusters Team trying to float Paul Newman beneath.

There were huge crowds. I spoke to the friendly MythBuster, who posed for photos with me, even plonking an enormous kiss on my cheek. When I giggled like a teenager, he kissed me again on my mouth. It was a surprise! I can't say I minded. Yes, times have changed!

He autographed one of my shopping bags. I even went beneath the crowd tape to pick up a red helium balloon that had escaped its tie, inflated to take home to my son, who was a big fan of the show.

I met other major celebrities, including one of the world's best dress designers, that day. I packed a lot of dreams into about 14 hours then.

Later that night, I saw Wicked. Not the original cast, but the second lot. I was already wowed after my dream come true shopping spree in NYC. So, when Elphaba sang out that she was Unlimited, I felt my dreams were unlimited too.