That weird moment where you can't figure out if your alter ego is your real ego or if your real ego is your alter ego.

There's a chance that, in living in Austin for nearly a year, I have in fact adopted and ingrained the weird into my life.  A few months ago, a friend proposed that we attend a soiree labeled "Alter Ego Party".  Oh, my luck!  I already had one...a few years back, my brothers and I gave names to the personalities we likely became after a few bubblies- theirs Mr. Fabulous and Merv, and mine would be Ginger.  But Ginger had been locked away in the closet for some time and I knew we would need to redefine her- a new look, a new character.  An Alter Ego makeover, if you will.  And she would have a friend.  The missing piece of a dynamic duo.  And her name would be Estelle.

Here is what we know about these broads through the mastering of a technique called improving (read: making it up) answers to questions about them.

Estelle Rivers is a saucy little thing from Yonkers who likes extra ashy cigarettes, the smell of motor oil, and the cha-cha.  At least now she does.  She prefers a stiff martini, and by stiff I mean liquor and olives hold the olives.  The glass makes her look classy until she cha-chas that thing all over herself.  Estelle met and married Carl in her younger years.  When they met, he was the only sober one there- he wasn't a drinker, that Carl, until he met Estelle.  He gave her that gaw-gaw-gorgeous ruby red ring on her finger, but she had to give him the old Moe Green Special after he messed around with Ginger.   Friends over fellas, ya know?

Ginger Macdonald-Suarez kept both last names as the Macdonald family is was very well known in Yonkers for their bootleggin' during the depression.  She couldn't give up a name and a reputation like that.  Suarez comes from Rico, her late husband she met in Cuba during the war.  Don't ask which war.  Her memory is fading and it frustrates her when she gets her wars and seasons mixed up.   Rico approached her in the tattoo parlor where she got that beauty of a pirate tattoo.  No regrets.  Ginger loves a good shampoo & set, a strong cough drop, and an unexpected bar fight.  And she and Estelle loath the authorities.

And on a cold, dreary day, Ginger and Estelle's paths crossed at Grace's funeral in New Jersey.  A mutual friend's demise led to the power duo that Ginger and Estelle would become on and off the ice.

 

Ginger's strength and Estelle's grace made lifts and spins effortless.  They went on to win, like, every Olympic ice dancing event, were cast in picture shows, and became nation-wide celebrities.  And they would not. let. that. go.  Today, they still believe they belong at the top of the A list, and they'll give it to ya if you think otherwise.

There are moments...fine, the majority of the time...where we prefer to be Ginger and Estelle.  There are times where I want so bad to have been her in the 20s (30s?  40s?  50s?  We're not sure...) shmoozing with Pablo and Zelda and Cole over champagne, and it is in that moment, when I am talking to the checker at HEB in a Yankee accent that I realize I may actually be her and her alter ego may be me. 

And Ginger and Estelle will live on.  We won the alter ego contest at the party and were cast in the production company's next movie. Here's a tease.