The Family Gathering and the Ballerina April 30, 2008

This past weekend I had more going on than gardening. We hosted a family get-together for my dad’s side of the family. This was very meaningful for several reasons. While I was in high school, my parents divorced. As sometimes happens, this ultimately meant that my sister and I disconnected from my dad’s side of the family. There were a variety of factors, hurtful words, hurting hearts, and a lack of communication by my dad to me and my sister about that side of the family led to us not seeing them or talking to them for years on end. In fact, in the past five years, I have seen that side of the family three times: twice for funerals and once for a golden wedding anniversary celebration.

As I have gotten older and more removed from that hurtful time in my life, God has brought healing and perspective to my heart. I have found myself longing to reconnect with this family that was a regular part of my daily life as a child. So…we decided to host this gathering. I am so glad we decided to do this! Not everyone was able to come, but a good chunk did. There were lots of cousins running around playing tag, hunting tadpoles, and laughing together. We sat on the patio and visited for hours. I saw my mom talk with my dad’s little sister-and hug her! Hearts reconnected. It was lovely!

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On Sunday after church, Caitey was on her way to being a guest dancer in a local production of Cinderella. We have been attending rehearsals for the past 6 weeks and Sunday was Caitey’s premiere. She was a lovely little dragonfly flitting about the stage for a whole 20 seconds. She was glowing the entire time she was on stage. Although I have waffled about the expense and time investment, I have to say that she was so doggone cute I find myself wanting to purchase the dvd of the production. I only got a picture of her in her costume on my camera phone, but you will have to trust me that she looked adorable. Her hair was in two little buns (a la Princess Leia) with a little headband that had tiny antennae, and she wore a periwinkle long sleeved leotard and glittering dragonfly wings. She has an additional performance this upcoming weekend, and I will try to get a picture of her, at least with her makeup and hair (we don’t get to keep the costumes).

Happy Wednesday!

Dancing April 20, 2008

Right now I’m sitting in my van in the parking lot of the girls’ dance studio, on a borrowed internet signal. I’ve been spending a lot of time here lately. My littlest girl has been invited to be a “guest dancer” in a production of Cinderella. She is an inconsequential part, she has only a few moments on the stage. The amount of time on stage is not in proportion with her level of excitement. Caitey is thrilled just to be a part of the show.

Yesterday and today she has been participating in dress rehearsal run throughs. What this means for my girl with the bit part is that she gets to hang out in the dressing room with all the girls in the cast and see them in their pretty tutus and toe shoes. She gets to enjoy chatting with the other guest dancers. She gets to wear makeup and have hair that is “like a helmet.” With every fiber of her being, she is enjoying this experience. She is not sad that she doesn’t have a bigger part, she just enjoys what she has.

What a good example she is for me. So often I get caught up in what should be, or what might have been, that I miss out on enjoying what is. I miss seeing the sweet little dancers spinning around in the living room because I am so fixed on getting the laundry done. Or I miss out on the delightful laughs of kids playing water park in the back yard because I have some work to be done. Please, Lord, let me this week fix my heart and mind on enjoying the sweet blessings you have given me. They are treasures and gifts from you to me. Please let me enjoy them the way you intended. Help me to enjoy the dance.