Mini doesn't plan to dance in high school. This was her swan song and I wanted her to end on a note that she felt proud of. Her goal was to qualify for National championships -something she has never done. It was going to be tough. There were 181 dancers in her under 13 age group. Seriously!*#@! They placed the top 91 dancers. Mini had to rank 56th or above to make it to Nationals.
She came in 43rd. So that may not sound impressive, but please remember 181 girls competed! I wept. This girl works so hard. She wanted it so bad. Her face was pure excitement, relief, and joy! Hooray! I was poised in front of the stage with my video camera. They announce the awards in reverse order. With each number called I held my breath hoping it wasn't her number until we had cleared the National qualifying number. Midway through the announcements, I noticed that I could see Mini, who was standing side-stage with the other girls who hadn't been announced yet. I zoomed in and watched her jump up and down screaming with excitement as she got closer to her award.
Curly admitted to Mini and I on Friday night that her goal was to beat 7th place, since that is what she was last year. I flat out told her to pick a different goal. Vote me in for mom-of-the-year. I felt like her goal was too lofty, and near impossible. I feared that she would be disappointed.
Mini and I squeezed together in front of the stage to watch Curly's results. While I thought Curly danced great, I felt like two of her three rounds were not her best. I told her over and over to brace herself, so that she wouldn't be upset. The other point I must make is that my girls' competitions were happening at the SAME BLEEPING TIME. I watched each of Curly's and Mini's dances and I got to see some of each group, but it isn't like I was sitting and watching an entire competition. I wasn't completely convinced where either girl's ability fell since I hadn't seen all of the competitors.
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| Mini was holding my phone and snapped this blurry picture when Curly came down off the stage. |
We didn't get to bed before midnight. Too many pictures to take and too many happy hugs to squeeze in before we went home. Our drive home was much more celebratory than last year. Curly pointed out that I kept reminding them no tears, and the only tears we had were happy ones!
World Championships take place in Scotland this year. The competition is held around Easter. I whispered to Curly, 'Let's just not bring up the 'Scotland' word to Daddy just yet. We are still finishing a kitchen after all.' Gulp.
Maybe it is best that Coach didn't attend the awards ceremony and remains clueless about Irish dancing overall.
4 comments:
Oh my goodness !!! So many congratulations to your dedicated, talented girls!! You must be so proud!!!
Thanks so much! I cannot tell you how relieved I am that it is over. They work so hard, and yes - I drive LOTS and provide an abundance of funding. I was delighted to see Mini finally feel thrilled with her results. Now she can retire with a smile!
How EXCITING!!!!! Congratulations to you all!!! And yes, hold off on mentioning Scotland until the kitchen is completed.
Well I got brave yesterday and I looked at my frequent flyer miles. Great news: plenty!!! I'm assuming it will just be the girls plus me. I texted Coach and said, hey, frequent flyer miles will work for Scotland. My phone did not blow up or anything, so - hey, he must get that it's happening. Meanwhile his office manager - who I always refer to as the third person in our marriage, but not in a weird way, told me that it came up at work. . . so I knew he knew that Scotland was on the horizon. Then last night Curly announced that she found Scotland on the map. His head didn't spin around or anything, so I think we are OK.
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