I am well entrenched in my Monday routine. We are at dance. Sarah is a teacher's assistant for the first half hour with the wee ones. This involves lots of silliness and freestyle movement and play to teach the girls, and occasionally boys, how to hold their arms and legs and bodies. They learn first position and several other basic things. All of these elements combined will eventually lead to little ballerinas who look awfully cute. Sarah is there to serve as a positive example, a shoe adjuster, bathroom monitor and, well, crowd controller. It is hard to believe that almost 7 years ago Sarah was one of those little ones. That tiny little thing who looked like a little pixie in her leotard, loving every second of it. These little ones are a sight, both adorable and cute all at once. I remember when I saw Sarah's first recital, the Brain practically had to hold me back from screaming, "That's MY baby!!". Needless to say, we had at least 37 different people filming from different vantage points...editor and cinematographers included in the final credits of the "Dancer's Cut".
The next hour is Sarah's Modern/Ballet V, or something like that. They get to do much more advanced things and work on their splits and twist their hips around in ways I never could be flexible enough to attempt and wear cool costumes. Please forgive me, I forgot to mention that this is a dance program with a Christian base. They dance to Christian music and practice in our church. Now, there are much more hard core programs out there. Programs where they are terribly strict, both with technique, hours of practice and with the girl's weight. I want Sarah to enjoy herself. I want her to gain confidence and skill. Will she ever be a world class dancer? That's probably not in the cards. We have not been driling her with dance every minute of her life, immersing her in 5 to 10 hours of dance, at least, a week. She spends an hour and a half every week in dance. If she chooses to be a dance instructor as she desires at this point, more power to her. I can do a mean Electric Slide, YMCA, Chicken Dance...you know, your basic wedding reception essentials. I can shake my bon bon without the use of liquid courage.
I can only hope that if she continues to have a passion for dance, she'll take it as far as she desires...regardless of how people might try to discourage her. I have many regrets about letting people's words influence the choices I made for my future. The art teacher who told me I had "no artistic talent"...the friend's father who told me I'd never make it as a lawyer because he saw that I didn't have what it takes. Who knows what I could have been if I had followed my heart and not listened to people who knew little about me? I am a mother with a lovely family. I am happy and love my current job. But do I have dreams and a few regrets? Absolutely. I'd be a liar if I said no. I want my children to know they can be just about anything they want to be....they just may have to work 5 million times as hard to achieve it. But I'll be their biggest cheerleader when they achieve their goal.
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