6 hours for 7 minutes

Saturday was my daughters first Ballet recital. The above picture is her, with her Belle gown on. Ballet is not cheap. There were the lessons, $36 a month for 9 months. Then the gown which was $45, the tap shoes $25, the ballet shoes $12, the tights and other outfits. Add to that the cost of the tickets. 9 bucks each, and we bought 8 tickets. But to get to see her on that stage dancing on Saturday was aboslutely priceless. She has always said that one day she wants to grow up and teach ballet, so she has to learn how to do it first. The recital was actually really good as well. There were a variety of students of all different ages from 3 to adult. The mixed things up really well and you didn't see the same routine twice. My daugther had a friend in a different class who did hers on Friday night. All told they must have had 10 different recitals. 2 Friday night and then 4 each on Saturday and Sunday. At about 1.5 hours eachm thats a lot of dancing. well soon we will get the $25 DVD so we can see it over and over.

Jacklyn actually did really well. I would be the first to say if she was horrible, but she wasn't at all. Jacklyn is really quite klutzy, she often falls down for no reason and during the summer her legs are covered with small bruises from running into stuff. We often joke that someone will call the authorities on us because of it. When she dances a change over comes her. She is no longer a hyper - wound up 5 year old. But very serious and intent on what she is doing. I love seeing that.

During all of the performances there was usually 1 kid that stood out because she was much better and in tune with what was suppossed to be happening. There was usually 1 that stood out because she was clueless. Jacklyn was with it the whole time. She really looked like she had a lot of fun as well, and thats all we care about. Afterwards we all went to dinner to celebrate.

As for the title of the post. My mother is still recovering from her accident but she had made a remarkable recovery. So on Saturday morning I drove the 75 miles down to pick her up. I loaded up her walker, scooter and oxygen tank. We went out to lunch and then headed back up to this area for the recital. We got to the school where it was being held about 1/2 hour early which was good, we were able to get in and get seated, we got seats in the middle. Soon my wife and her parents and Aunt arrived. Her sister was late, as usual. We went out to eat as I mentioned and then I drove Mom home. 6 hours of driving for her to see Jacklyn dance for about 7 minutes total. But it was totally worth it. Mom was crying during the first ballet dance. She said she had always wanted to be able to do that as a kid, but they couldn't afford it. Neither one of my neices did dance either, although the oldest went quite far with ice skating, so it was special for Mom. She did show how out of touch she can be. When I got there in the morning she handed me a $20 and said "That should cover the gas and stuff." I chuckled because the gas was $30 and the tolls were another $13, but it really didn't matter. Mom had a goos time, Jacklyn had a good time, and that is what was important.