One more sleep before Edinburgh Fringe Festival

I've been packing all morning. My costume wardrobe is almost empty as is my make up drawer. Tomorrow I'll be setting off to Edinburgh early in the morning in a car full of sequined dresses, make up, glitter spray, false eyelashes and flyers (oh yes, and a change of underwear). My black Ford Fusion has been transformed into the  'Bellyliciousmobile' complete with 'Bellylicious the Sequel' posters on the back windows, a knitted, red haired belly dancer swinging from the rear view mirror and a sign (with a picture of Miss Piggy who is one of my great sources of inspiration) which reads 'Diva on board'  dangling at the back  so there can be no mistake, this is a 'Diva on tour' .

Diva indeed...  I don't feel so much like a Diva right now.
Right now I feel more like a little girl who's dreading the first day of school, the very first day, you know, the day which defines you as a 'big girl' (or boy) because you are now leaving nursery behind and going to 'big school', that kind of first day.
I really really really want to go, I want to be a 'big girl' and play with the 'big kids',  I can't wait for it to it to be tomorrow, I know I won't be able to sleep.  But alongside these feelings of anticipation and excitement are feelings of dread. Every now and then an overwhelming wave washes over me and I feel so scared. What if I don't do well, what if I don't fit in, what if the other kids don't like me, what if, what if, what if.... I know 'what if' never happens but knowing this doesn't make the fear go away.

'I must rehearse just one more time', I think to myself, but I don't rehearse. Instead I put on some music which has nothing to do with the show or the Fringe and dance for a while. Dance not for any purpose other than to dance. Right now it feels like the only thing I can do. Then I make some coffee, browse the internet,  make another coffee. That's it! Any chance I may have had for an early night is now washed down with my sixth cup. Then I make some food and sit to watch a DVD - 'Muppets Treasure Island' - I wasn't kidding about the Miss Piggy thing :).
'Oh Galit, Galit, what ARE you doing?!?'
Who is this woman who so calmly ignores the fact that this is a very major point in my life? That my whole future could be determined by how things turn out in the next 12 days?!
That would be  'Miss Bellylicious', Belly Dance Diva Extraordinaire.
She is not nervous at all.
She knows exactly what she's doing.
She's fabulous, beautiful, loud, charming, funny, extravagant, a bit over the top and very very very sexy, almost to the point of it being too much.
She has no inhibitions, she has no doubts and she takes no prisoners.
If she goes wrong...What do you mean 'goes wrong'?!  Impossible!  Because even her 'wrongs' are right.
She says to me: 'Let's enjoy this DVD darling, everything's going to be alright, you just leave everything to me - apart from the driving tomorrow that is...- '
I think to myself-  'yeah, I think I'll do just that, I'll leave it to her. After all she got us this far, whatever is about to happen has been meticulously choreographed by her. Come what may, she is well prepared which means we are good to go.
I know it's going to be fun. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be an experience of a life time. But most importantly it is going to 'BE'.
I've been dreaming about this since the first Bellylicious came out in 2007 and tomorrow it is happening! "Shiver me timbers" (to quote the muppet pirates), It is actually happening!

One more sleep before Edinburgh Fringe Festival - I'll see you on the other side.


P.S.
I will be flyering in costume (different one each day is the plan) on the Royal Mile every day between 12pm-3pm from the 3rd (not on the 5th as I'll be in Glasgow). If you're in Edinburgh do come and find me to say 'hi'. That would be really lovely.