An emotional, dancing Mother's Day weekend

A friend of ours had a baby last week and, in general, there was quite a bit of discussion about babies and such at the dance studio.  Normally, this doesn't bother me or trigger any type of emotional overload but by the end of last week I was feeling a bit drained by it all because I had been thinking about what had happened with Abigail.  So that's how I headed into Mother's Day weekend, a bit emotional and suppressing it all because I was raised in a Boston Irish Show-No-Emotion Catholic household and that's what we do.  It's the same deal with anxiety.  People think you're being a jerk but, really, you're just trying to deal with your emotions.

But let's talk about happy, good stuff.

The girls' dance team finally participated in their first competition on Saturday.  They were supposed to compete at the end of April but that competition was canceled due to low registration.  I guess that kind of shows you the popularity level of competitive dance here in New England.  Recreational dance does fairly well but there aren't very many big studios focused on competitive dance.  I'm sure in other parts of the country, there are competitions turning away participants.  Unfortunately, not here.

Saturday actually turned out to be a perfect day weather-wise for a dance competition as it was rainy and in the low 50s all day.  I had big plans for a quick photo shoot before we left the house.  And by photo shoot, I mean moving furniture, setting up the stand and rolling out the paper.  Didn't happen.  I snapped these off before we ran out the door.





I started hair and make-up two hours before we needed to leave the house and that still barely gave me enough time.  This coincided with lunchtime, of course, so I assigned Rich to the Catering Dept.  I also had to pack up everything and bring it with us because they didn't actually hit the stage until much later which meant I needed to touch up make-up (black liquid eyeliner on three kids almost sent me over the edge) and potentially redo hair.  Messy hair could mean lost points from the judges.

The girls were told to arrive dressed in their costumes but to wear black pants over their tights.  It was a little awkward because of the fringe but thank goodness we followed the rules because Emily stepped out into the garage, tripped and slid down the garage steps on her bum.  It was so loud, I thought Rich was emptying the recycling bin.  This child also ripped a hole in the toe of a brand new pair of tights before we even left the house and those tights are extremely difficult to rip.  No one could see the hole when she was wearing shoes so it was fine and I'll stitch it up before the dance recital because I'm frugal and that's what I do.  If you have a visible hole in your tights while you're competing, your team could lose points.  I actually brought an extra pair of brand new tights with me because of this very reason.  (Yes, I was concerned that Emily had bruised her tailbone but she was fine.)

The girls have learned a lot about teamwork in school these past few years.  Those experiences aren't always pleasant as any of us who have been forced into teams for schoolwork know very well.  They've had to deal with teammates who insist on only using their own ideas and teammates who sit back and let everyone else do the work, but I hope they've seen the difference with their dance team.  All the kids on that team want to be there.  They were all invited to be there.  And they've all worked very hard this year.  Teamwork extends beyond the kids as well.  The moms have to help each other out.  I took care of someone's bun in the dressing room while another mom did someone's make-up.  We all need to work together.

Proud mom bragging time.  Their performance was amazing!!!  I was so freaking proud!  There is one part of the dance that makes me a little nervous.  Emily, Allie and another girl jump into their partner's arms (think of a groom carrying a bride) and then they bend back and flip over.  So they not only need to get the timing correct, they need to not fall on their heads and it was perfect!!

Their dance received a High Gold, which was the second highest rating, and their team received a special award from the judges for teamwork.



I took a photo of the entire team for the studio owner before they all headed backstage for their dance and completely forgot to pull my own kids aside for a photo.  I grabbed these in the chaos shortly after they came offstage.