Tutus, Tiaras and Clara

My mom treated her daughters and granddaughters to an evening at Ballet West's The Nutcracker this week. And it was as magical as ever. That ballet will never get old for me. I love that the choreography is still exactly the same as when I performed in it so many, many years ago. I will always imagine being backstage as the overture begins and feeling so giddy and nervous and excited to perform--so many good memories when I think back on it. I loved seeing the ballet company in the dressing room halls getting warmed-up and chatting together. I loved performing in the Capital Theater. And I loved having my family there with flowers for me at the end of the show. I hope my own daughters will have that chance one day if they grow to love ballet as much as I did. And I really had to love ballet to make myself go try-out year after year. Those auditions were hard, plain and simple. Whether I was 7 or 12 they were hard. And very technical and super intimidating. I would know because I tried out 6 times. And only made it twice.

Anyway, I am losing my focus with all the reminiscing...My darling Caroline was thrilled to be going on such a big girl date and as we watched the party girls she pointed out her favorite girl and favorite dress and then quickly changed her favorite to Clara. As the snow princess danced she kept telling me how beautiful all of it was--the snow, the tiaras, the tutus, the dancing, and the music. And I couldn't agree more. In the end, she made it all the way to the end (thanks to a 2 hour nap earlier that day) and made-up her mind that Clara was indeed her very favorite. The next morning she showed Bentley at least 3 different things she had seen Clara do in the ballet and it was adorable. Thank you for an enchanting night out Mom! Cares and I loved it.