Let Them See You Dance

I have MANY things in my life to be thankful for.  Much more than I deserve.  Today is Harry's birthday, he's 17, where did that time go?  Hopson's birthday was yesterday, I won't tell you how old he is, but he's one year older than me.  If you need to know my age, click here.  :)  I was able to do something earlier this month that was one of the coolest things ever.

I love to dance.  I always have.  My friend Steven, who was my boyfriend in middle school, used to put his hand on top of my head to try to stop me from dancing.  My theme song back then was, All She Wants to Do is Dance.  You know, not much has changed.  I hear music & I just have to dance.  (granted, things to move quite like they did 30 years ago.)  So does Elizabeth.  I'll be cooking dinner; music is playing; E & I are dancing around the kitchen.  Yes, it's a personal problem, but a good one if you have to have a personal problem, but I digress.


This past June, Elizabeth auditioned for The Magic City Nutcracker.  I was so excited for her.  This was the premier & how exciting to say she was part of the premier cast.  A few months later I receive a call from  the directors, who are E's dance teachers, asking me if I would consider being in the party scene.  Well what does an old dancer say to that?  She would say yes, that what she would say.  One of Elizabeth's roles was that of the maid, and what that meant was that I was going to get to dance, in a community Nutcracker, with my only daughter.  Ask me how priceless that is.  Ask me how there is no way I would trade that experience for any amount of money.

E is in the middle as the maid & I'm on
the far left as one of the party parents.
She did fabulous, not that I'm partial.  I am so proud of her.  I'm proud because she and all her cast mates gave up their Saturdays and Sundays to learn their dances.  With an older brother who is a freshman in college, it was a true sacrifice for Elizabeth.  Many times when she wanted to go to AU to see Hop & go to an Auburn game, she stayed and danced, because that's what you do.  We would go to practice Saturday & hurry home so we could watch the game on TV.  We would go to church on Sunday & hurry home so she could go back to dance.  It was a bonding time for the two of us.  It's something I will never take for granted.  It may never happen again, and it was a happy time for me.

I need to give a HUGE shoutout to my friend Elizabeth Anthony & her friend Sherri Griffin with Sherri Griffin Photography for sharing her beautiful pictures from our performances.  (those are the pics you see in this posting.)  Thank you Kelly, Angel & Stephanie for all your hard work & allowing me to play a very small part in the production.  I also need to thank Addie for having her cell phone backstage so we could keep up with the SEC championship game.  What can I say, we're Auburn fans!  E was also in the Chinese dance; the picture of her to the left is her in her Chinese costume.  It was en pointe.  If you know anything about being en pointe, you know how important it is to be on your box.  She nailed it & had fun doing it.

Our costumes were beautiful.  For the MCN, we went with Jane Austen era instead of Victorian.  When I slicked my hair back the gray was so shiny, yuck.  I had to let it grow out enough to pull it back too, yeah, I look better with short hair.  Fake eyelashes & fake hair are two things I don't think I'll miss too much, but watching all these girls make new friends, help each other, and cheer on each other was a gift.

I am thankful for that experience with E.  It was fun this old dancer to feel young for just a little while.  2013 was not too shabby, and I'm expecting and praying for 2014 to be even better.  Happy New Year everyone!

Celebrating Life, blessings & having a time to dance!
~ashley

  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A New Place to Go

A Little Bone to Pick

Well Good for Fair Fanny Petro