Red Shoes & Naval Christmas Ball

US Naval Academy in December

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Elle was either newly divorced or separated and close to the final divorce settlement with Sam when she first met Marv. It never took long for Elle to receive attention from potential gentlemen suitors.  Her beauty and vivacious personality were winsome to all who met her. When she was working at the fur company in charge of their credit department Sam would follow Elle when she traveled back and forth to their several store locations and watched (nowadays Sam’s behavior would likely be termed stalking) as she had lunch with her boss. Soon after one of his retail buildings burned the furrier could no longer afford to keep all of his staff so Elle found another job at a furniture company doing bookkeeping and managing their credit department.

After Elle ran into Marv the midshipman on a warm early summer’s eve, it took several weeks before Marv made contact again and called Elle to ask for a date. The Red Shoes was playing in a local theatre and after a lovely dinner Elle and Marv saw this production on their first official date that summer. The Red Shoes was one of Elle’s favorite fairy tale stories by Hans Christian Anderson about a young ballet dancer who was torn between the man she loved and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina. The angst felt by the talented girl eventually led her to suicide because she simply could not choose between expression of her gift and the man she dearly loved.

                         http://astrodreamer.squarespace.com/blog/2009/4/11/the-red-shoes-21.html

At Christmas time that year Marv and his buddies wanted to shop during their free time away from the Naval Academy. They came by where Elle worked at the furniture store to see if she would join them on their Christmas shopping spree that night when she finished working. Elle had told Marv she absolutely loved the plush navy bathrobes so Marv bought one for Elle and she loved dreaming of Marv when she wore it.

One of the big highlights of that enchanting year was when Elle joined Marv as his date to the famous Naval Academy Christmas Ball. Everyone knew that any a midshipman had to be serious about any girl he took to such an important event. Elle was well aware of the importance of the Christmas Ball and what it meant about her status as Marv’s girl.  That knowledge blended with the enthrallment of the special evening itself found Elle deeply in love and had hardly ever been happier with bright prospects for her future.