2015 Dance Recital

"Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it."

Misty Copeland

I have been sitting staring at this picture for the better part of twenty minutes without being able to write a word or know where to start.  I only can feel the huge well of pride inside for this little girl who has spent this past year working so very hard at every single thing she has set out to do.

This past week was the much anticipated dance recital.  If you were around any of us or talked to us last week, chances are you heard a lot about dance.  It's a big week and it should be.   There are no games for dance;  no tournaments;  no first place.   There is just nine months of being at the studio three plus hours a week.  In the hot, in the cold.  When you're sick.  When you might rather just curl up in your pajamas and take a break.  But you don't.  You work hard.  You take your ipod so you can take video to critique yourself and then you work harder.

Finally, you get one night to show those people who have loved you and supported you through it, what you have been doing during all that time away from them.   And you dance your heart out and  it's awesome.  That's what you do if you're McKenna. 

If you're one of those lucky people who get to love her as fiercely as we do you get to feel nervous and proud and maybe even wipe a tear or two from your eyes.    You  have a sense of immense pride, not just in watching your beautiful daughter dance but in knowing what it took for her to get to be this good in just two short years.   You sit in awe of how graceful she is,  and the fact that a smile never leaves her face lets you know that in that moment she is truly happy.

If you're three, you just think that your big sister is the best thing ever.  You don't yet know that she is teaching you hard work and sacrifice and ballet all at the same time.   You know where she is when she's not home and sometimes you even say, "She's at dance - again!"  But nothing, NOTHING beats standing beside her for one night doing something that you both have come to love.