Do You Hear What I Hear?

"I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong song."
- Dr. John

Tonight was Char's first public performance as a ballet dancer. Char's dance academy secured the open space in the mall that's in front of a Sears store. Yup, nothing spells culture like leaf blowers, ballet dancing, and Craftsman tools.

Daphne and I went into the mall with low expectations. And I mean low. Like, if Char just stood there the whole time without running away we'd call that a win. Char was excited, so things were looking up for her Christmas dance to "Jingle Bell Rock".

The place was packed, and after I took a team photo Daphne left to see if she could fight her way through the crowd.

I stayed in the back in case Charlotte fled the scene, but she didn't. She stood in her place with the rest of her team. She stepped out onto the floor, and when the music started she did her best to follow the instructor.

Now here's the rub. Char's regular teacher is a senior at my high school, but he wasn't there. Instead, another high school student was the substitute. And she was in a leg cast. And then someone played the wrong song. And then the substitute danced/ hobbled her way through the wrong routine for the girls to follow. Those poor kids didn't have a chance.

Char's the second dancer from the right. Check it out.

You can hear me laughing at the 44-second mark. I feel a tiny bit bad about that, but the whole thing was ridiculous. But what's so impressive is that those girls are trying. They're in front a huge group of people, dancing moves they've never done to a song they do not know. And they're smiling, and they're having fun.

That's so cool.

Char ran over to me when the music was over and exclaimed, "I LOVE to dance!" When Mom joined us Char did a little move and jumped into Daph's arms.

Char has no idea the dance didn't go as planned, and we have no intention of telling her. It was a positive experience for her, and that's all that matters.

Before Char was even born Daphne and I made ourselves a promise. If our child was to participate in an activity, when it was over we'd ask three questions.
1) Did you have fun?
2) Did you do your best?
3) Where should we go to eat?

The idea is that we'd celebrate best efforts regardless of the outcome, and... we love to eat.

So we went to Taco John's.

Then we went to get some frozen yogurt.

I love ballet. link