May We All Remember to... Just Dance

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I thought that a daughter of mine would be standing on tippy toes and twirling in a tutu, I would have never believed you. One, because I just couldn't have imagined what it would be like to have a daughter. And two, because the things that I was interested in as a child never came close to anything involving a tutu or ballet shoes.
Now, let me just preface by saying that I am not a girly girl type girl. And what I mean by that is I never did dance myself nor shown any interest in it, so being a "dance mom" and "dance recitals" is all new to me.

Also? I don't take it very seriously.

So much so, that I'm pretty sure E was one of the only girls with no makeup on and her hair was not in a perfect hair sprayed bun. The lady even came over to me to ask me if I wanted her to fix E's hair? She completely caught me off gaurd, that it took me a brief moment to even open my mouth. "No, thank you." What do you mean fix her hair, I thought to myself. I think it is perfect just the way it is.

Anyways, off course already. Like I said, I don't take this whole dance thing too seriously. Not to mention, she's my baby. She's two.

So we had first heard about the recital on week 2 of dance class. From the looks of how dance class was going already {you know, Elliana staring at herself in the mirror and sometimes, accidentally, hitting her tap shoes against that said mirror}, I assumed that it would just be a clustered mess. But. How could a mom ever say NO to her baby's first dance recital? So you want me to write a check for some dance outfits that they will only wear once? Sure, why not! All while thinking... this better be a darn good show.

Regardless, I was counting down the days.

When the day arrived that we had the recital, I again, 8 weeks into this gig, thought that it was going to be a clustered mess. In fact, we were not even able to attend the practice rehearsal, as we were out of town the week that they had it.

After arriving to the studio, Elliana was intrigued to see so many little girls around her. She stood around kind of taking it all in for a moment, and kept to herself. This is the part where I had mentioned at the beginning. Where I, the non-dancer mom, is trying to get her outfit put on and hair perfectly well done. Well, you know, in my eyes.

Andrew ended up meeting us at the studo after work, and you can tell his was just as surprised, as I was, to see his little baby looking like a beautiful little girl. We both kind of stood there speechless for a couple moments. Reminding ourselves... we created this. She is ours.

The girls soon lined up, and Elliana just stood there. Again, looking around her. Not sure of what was to come. At this point, I was sure that she wouldn't go on stage. Or that she would want me to go wtih her. The crowd, the noise, the unknown, were just a few of the things that I thought would scare her off.

But I was wrong. Yet again.

She walked up on stage. Standing straight up there looking out into the crowd. Right next to the teacher. And as the music turned on and the instructor proceeded to ask the girls to do certain steps and moves. She did it. And it was by far one of the cutest things I ever did see. Up there, our baby, on a stage. I would have never been able to imagine that 2.5 years ago when we first held her in our arms.

It was short and sweet, and as the show ended and Elliana heard the loud clapping and cheering from the audience, she lit up. And she ran into my arms and she said "Mama I did it." And when it was over, all she kept saying was, "I dance again, lets do it again."

She had fun. She loved it. That is all I could ever ask for.

And so we ended the night. Our first dance recital night.

Actually, it's Elliana's night. But just as equally, it is also ours. Because it's a big deal to us. Us parents. Seeing another first in our daughter's life. Watching her learn and light up on stage. It's our moment to be proud. Not because she did the right moves or that she mastered a certain dance. But because she is ours, and we are proud of that.

No matter what she does in the world or how great she is at what she does, it will never change the fact that we our proud.

And I hope she always remembers that.