Dance, Dance, Dance!

(PIC: Shay Shay, 3rd from left.) Last night was dress rehearsal for this weekend’s recital. Tonight we will award the 2nd annual Christi Thomas Memorial Scholarship, always bittersweet. I’ve written my speech and hopefully this time I won’t cry, but I’m not thinking that is likely. These events are still quite emotional. All week at practice, I kept thinking I should be taking TWO daughters, not just one.

(PIC: Shayla at the Walleye Fest a couple of weeks ago) Shayla and I enjoyed our first day of summer vacation yesterday. We played “restaurant” for lunch, did silent reading together (She’s finishing “Swindle” while I’m reading journal articles for my exams.), read “Dogsong”, our latest shared novel, did many loads of laundry and hung out the sheets on the clothesline, ran the sweeper, dusted and then although I won’t receive my first (of four) exam questions until Monday morning, I have negotiated enough of it with that one Professor to start working on my 20-30 page response, so I wrote for a couple of hours too while Shayla alternated between playing inside and outside (temps in the 90s yesterday). I wondered how Christi would have spent her day. Regardless, it was so nice to finally have a day at home together!

As I had a meeting in Columbus, Jennifer met us at the Ritz and took care of Shayla for the evening. Much to our shock, Shayla was able to direct Jennifer back to our home while Shayne waited at a restaurant to bring home pizza. (I had to give specific instructions that Shayla was NOT to eat in her dance costume! Sometimes, I just don’t trust my husband – hee hee. OK, seriously, when the girls were little I don't remember where we were, but I had to run and do something and when I came back, Shayne's face was white as he said, "I am so sorry, Angela. I just didn't think about it." I looked at the girls; they had stained orange hands and faces and smears on their white pants. He bought them Cheetos! It was "ergh!" at the time, but now I laugh - just didn't want to have a repeat with pizza on a light pink ballet costume last night!). I still shake my head that Shayla knew the way home from town! I also couldn't believe it when she told me, "Guess what I found in my ballet shoe at the Ritz when I went to change my costume!" It was a little angel keepsake, like an angel in a marble. I don't know how it got there, but I said, "Christi was with you!" Shayla said, "Yep!" VERY COOL!

Thursday evening was a rough one for Shayla. After dance practice at the theatre, she was to have her first “Mounted Meeting” for her 4-H horse club. She was so excited!! Unfortunately, I received a call during the day that Skeeter lost his shoes and couldn’t be transported to the fairgrounds for practice. To make matters worse, at the fairgrounds, we learned that it was our fault Skeeter was sore. Skeeter only wears shoes on his front hoofs. Thursday, most likely due to the mud, the shoes were pulled off. When Shayne and Shayla went out to ride him on Thursday, they didn’t realize he didn’t have his shoes on and they rode him for a couple of hours (ouch). The owner told me it’d be like walking barefoot. They didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at all, but when the owner checked on him Friday morning, he wasn’t doing well. She told me he was lame and my heart just fell. She told Shayne he was ok and that they could ride him Saturday morning after he had new shoes. Shayla felt terrible that she didn’t realize he didn’t have his shoes, especially since she picked his hoofs before and after her workout. During the meeting, she stood way off to the side by herself watching her fellow club members work their horses in the arena. Later she told me, “It was like torture watching all of the other girls trot their horses in the circle. I hope Skeeter will be ok.” She will go to work and to love on Skeeter later today. The fair will be here before we know it!

Early tonight, before the recital, we’ll gather at a restaurant for Shayla to cheer on Big Brown as he hopefully wins the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes. Sweet Traci and Nicole, from COSI, will be joining us. Shayla needs a little competition so this English teacher will be cheering for the horse with literature ties, even though I believe Big Brown will win. We are richly blessed to have good friends come to Shayla’s recital tonight and tomorrow!
Thanks to Jennifer to snapping photos for me last night!! I told her before I took off for Columbus, “You cannot take enough pictures.”