Odessa recently had her ballet performance. She received a new tutu from my mom, and the day of the performance was to be her first day using it. The children sat with their parents in the audience until it was time for them to perform. The tutu was so puffy that we couldn’t have her wear it while waiting for her to go on stage, because she’d smack everyone in the face with it as she tried to exit the row. So, when it was her turn, she and Serena left the row and put it on while in the aisle. However, this delay meant they were about to start without her. She shouted, to the whole theater, “Wait!” A moment later, she said, “I am putting my tutu on,” to the amusement of the audience. For a brief time, the theater was quiet as she and Serena worked to get it on. She then must have decided that they deserved to know more about the tutu. “It was a present that I got from Grandma Von Ruden!” Everyone was still amused, but they weren’t entirely sure what she said.

Prior to the theater performance, we saw a rehearsal where all the children did their parts with enthusiasm. But when on the stage, most of the kids seemed to be hesitant to perform. An exception, of course, was Odessa, who had more her share of enthusiasm.

This story is probably pretty dull to most people. I realized for the first time what it’s like to watch one’s child perform something publicly. I am not immune to the feelings of pride that most parents must experience. As a consequence, I find it likely that I’m talking about it far too much.

I took a crappy video of the show. You can see her bounding across the stage to meet her peers. It’s pretty cute. It includes other children, and is consequently password protected, like the slideshows. The password is the same as the others. You can view the video here. The video is not very high quality, unfortunately.