The Halloween Project – Day Three

Sometimes the fun of a costume is that it has another deeper level to it. Sure, I adore Alice in Wonderful. She is disobedient, stubborn, resourceful, curious, intelligent, and imaginative. But this costume was also a "secret message" to my work crush.

At my old paralegal job, I would sit outside at lunchtime reading a book on a bench waiting for a sighting of the "Rabbit". Everyday, my crush - a blur of long skinny limbs and tattoos - would run across the campus of the studio we worked at. He'd be pushing up his glasses, and checking his watch - late for another meeting. No time to say hello, goodbye. "Oh Mr. Rabbit, wait". I would wave after him. Sighing, I would wait on the bench until he ran back hoping he'd have five minutes to talk after his meeting.

At first, I was happy to have a sweet crush where we got awkward around each other, tripping over of our feet, and barely able to string words together as we stared at each other. My last boyfriend had an untreated mental illness which eventually imploded our relationship very abruptly and very badly.

But after a few years of hoping he'd use my phone number I bravely gave him one lunch, I wanted more. I knew I had to do something. So I devised a plan - not on a Hamlet level silly, more like on a Lindsay Lohan Disney movie level. Dressed like Alice, I would surely get his attention and then I could confess I wanted him to be my Rabbit.

Everyone at work loved my Alice in Wonderland costume that year. The Rabbit? He never saw it - he was in Bora Bora on vacation. Ten years later - I'm still waiting for him to use my number.