The recital!

Ah!  The recital.  All the work pays off on this special night.  I just love spending this time with my girl, sharing in her anticipation and calming her nerves.  I cherish the moments of brushing her cheeks to a rosy glow, sticking in just one more bobby pin to be sure her hair holds through the leaps and turns of her routines, making sure each flower is fastened properly (for one outfit, she was a veritable garden of flowers!).  Perhaps knowing this will be one of our last recitals has made this one take on an even brighter glow.

 

This time around, Madi was only in two dances plus the finale.  All were with her dear friend, which made the night really special.  Just two routines makes for a much lower key evening than usual.  The three of us did get our hearts beating in spite of the fewer dances because there was only one dance between their two.  That means they had just a couple of minutes to strip down and don an entirely different outfit before getting on stage for the second dance.

I am kicking myself for not having any pictures of the second costume.  Then I realized that there really wasn’t much time.  First I ran up the back stairs to watch the duet with the two girls.  Then I ran down the back as they ran down the front and we got them changed lickety-split.  Madi’s friend was so fast that she tore off up the stairs to the stage before I could switch one of her flowers.  I ran after her, but they were on stage before I could get the flower to her.  So I ran down the front stairs, through the basement and up the back stairs to watch the performance.  When it was done, we all ran down again and changed back to the original outfit for the finale.  It didn’t occur to me to stop them for pictures.  There was no reason to rush.  We had plenty of time to change, but we were in such a rush-rush mode, I forgot.

The evening was a hit.  The girls were beautiful and graceful.  We got to laugh together downstairs.  The other performances were wonderfully entertaining.  People came to watch the girls and help them feel as special and cherished as they truly are.