Solana Ballerina

Yesterday was Solana's ballet recital. They started in September and worked all year toward this event. I have to say that she did marvelously and really enjoyed it! About 3/4 of the way through the year she started complaining and didn't ever want to go to class. But we committed for the year so she had to finish. And then...they got their costumes. Thank goodness for that! Not a single other complain was to be heard. But I think we were all happy for the year to be over. Nine months was a long time for Solana to stick with ballet. I'd already decided that we'd do activities that were shorter or more flexible next year - like swimming/cheer leading that are month-to-month and we can do them as we please. But as soon as we got home from the recital Solana was already planning her next dance class...maybe jazz or tap...? We'll see...

I would be remiss if I didn't include a side story about my mom-of-the-year moment. The recital started at 3pm. She was supposed to be dressed and ready to go on stage at a quarter 'till so I'd decided we should leave home 30 minutes before curtain (it's a 3 minute drive) and that would give us plenty of time to put on her dress and be ready (hair/makeup was done at home.) Chloe was still napping when it was time to go so Dave would wake her up and bring her just in time for curtain. A friend was saving us seats and Chloe could snack on cheerios during the recital. It was a perfect plan.

Except for the fact that the recital actually started at 2pm. Ahem. The paper was sitting right out on our coffee table. But did I look at it? No. I changed the time in my head and never double-checked.

We arrived 35 minutes into the recital and as soon as we entered the dressing room one of the moms saw the costume in my hand and said, "They just took those girls back. They're about to go on stage!" I completely lost all sense of cool. This was definitely not my brightest moment. The moms in the room quickly swarmed. They must have smelled panic on me the way dogs smell fear. One was unbuttoning the back of Solana's dress. Another grabbed her tights and started gathering them in her hands. And I began pleading with Solana to undress, which she flatly refused. There was no way in the world she was about to strip down to her panties in front of a bunch of strangers. We promised that nobody was looking and we're all girls, anyway. Nope. Not doing it. I could see the entire 9 months of rehearsal and Solana's big recital day going up in smoke. Poof! We would be 2 minutes late for her recital and it would be all my fault. Finally, the tights were on under her dress, she stepped into costume and simultaneously pulled her dress over her head (saving modesty). Someone put a clip in her hair while I got her ballet slippers on and she was ushered away by someone. I don't even know who. I raced to the auditorium and can't even remember if I thanked those moms. Ugh. Seriously. Like I said, not my brightest moment.

I sat down and there was one dance before Solana. I used it to think about all the horrible anxiety-filled energy I just fed to Solana (What would that do to her performance? She's never performed on a stage this big) and also to text Dave. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn't even fix the typos in my text. I felt soooo bad! I wanted to throw up and/or die. Either would have been fine at that moment. (But if I died NOBODY would be there to watch Solana's performance. Bad enough I already prevented Dave from watching it. I decided to live.) Sometimes my forgetfulness and absent-mindedness is endearing. Not today.

Thankfully, Solana is unflappable. She performed brilliantly. And she didn't even ask for Dave after the show. I wonder if she just assumed he had to stay home to babysit Chloe and wasn't planning to come. She noticed her friends had flowers after the performance and asked for some. Dave ran errands when we got home and came back with flowers for her. She was thrilled.

Thank goodness she wasn't affected by my mess! Oh my gosh what a day!

Professional Portrait


Flowers From Daddy after the show.

I stopped on the way home so we could jump out and take some pretty pictures by the flowers. Solana made up her own poses and let me know when we should stop. We were there for quite a while.