I was one of those little girls who was preoccupied with dreams of being a grown up woman who wore high heels and red lipstick.  I always wanted a vanity table with secret compartments to hide all my girlish treasures and a big mirror to capture my grown up reflection.  I imagined sitting at my vanity table for hours, playing with make-up and making myself look pretty.  I got the heels and the lipstick when I was still a teenager, but I would have to wait for the vanity table until I was 40.

I was moving in with my then boyfriend (now husband) and wanted to buy something special for a little corner of the apartment that would be all mine.  I looked at hundreds of vanities online and finally decided on a beautiful cherry wood table with a big mirror,  lots of drawers and a beautiful matching bench.  It was the vanity table I had always wanted.  It was perfect.

When the vanity arrived, I was so excited.  I unpacked it carefully and set it up in that special corner that was all mine.  I filled the drawers with tubes of lipstick and make up brushes.  I turned on the special light my husband had installed above the table and sat on the beautiful matching bench.  I looked in the mirror, but I couldn’t see the contours of my own face.  I would never be able to use the vanity table I had dreamed of since I was a little girl.  It was yet another thing RP had stolen from me.