last competition

I love these little girl tap shoes, next year she will get the big girl kind, not as cute.

All the girls dressed as Lucy (from the Peanuts), these hair things crack me up.

Zoe's last competition was Saturday. Whew, it was a doozy, we were gone for about 13 hours. Her dances last about 3 minutes each. Seems crazy doesn't it? All that time for 6 minutes of dancing?! Every time we have a competition, I groan and dread it because it is so much time and a lot of effort, but seriously, I've said it before, Zoe loves it. She did not complain ONE TIME, all day. She was bubbly, giggly, excited, having fun. We went out to lunch in between her last dance and awards with the girls from her team and she loved that too.

Parental sacrifice takes on a much deeper meaning for me on these days. At the start, I feel myself ticking away the minutes until I can go home but as the day goes on, I feel the excitement too. Instead of checking the time every five minutes, I found myself laughing and being silly too with my girly. When she dances, I get all teary-eyed, not sure why, pride, nostalgia for my own dancing days, relief, who cares. Watching your little one shine is pretty amazing.

And did I mention, her team got a "Platinum" rating for their ballet?! This is the highest rating they can get, they also got a judge's award for this number, and first place in their division. I know parents all over feel so proud when their children succeed, I know I am not the only one, I'm glad I was able to be in the moment for this special day, it was actually a relief after all the house stuff we have been going through. Shine on tiny dancer!