SILVER!

5years 7days

Katie makes me proud a whole lot of the time. But today I am about as proud of her as I have ever been. Today my baby girl stood up in front of a huge room of people and did her first ever dance solo. She sang her heart out, danced her socks off and I was incredibly, incredibly proud of her. I was proud of her just for stepping out onto that stage. That she did so beautifully blew me away. She didn’t once look at the senior who was stood in the wings ready to prompt if needed. She didn’t miss a word or step. And she came away with silver for her efforts, along with compliments of the adjudicator for her exceptional feet and her fantastic delivery of a difficult song. She was amazing. She was absolutely wonderful and LOVED it. I am so proud of her.

Beforehand, we had spent time watching her friends. I am almost equally proud of how supportive she has been of all of them. She is thoroughly enjoying the whole of the festival. She is loving all the varieties of dance. She is having fun hanging out with the girls. Every time she does something like this, I see in her how much a part of her dance is, how much it makes her glow. After I had sent her backstage with the seniors to get ready, one of the teachers came out to tell me she was absolutely buzzing. Dressed, full of it and really happy. She wouldn’t take her costume off after coming from the stage. She sat in it for another 3 hours nearly, watching more of her friends. She ran and hugged her big girl friends who won medals.

It took me aback quite how incredibly nervous I was today. She was pretty cool the whole day, though just before I sent her to get ready, she had a clingy – and I think nerve-related – moment. Seconds, if that. I found it extremely stressful though! But she had an amazing time and to say she was pleased with her little self doesn’t do it justice.

We were touched to see how many of her dancing buddies- both big girls and the junior section- made the effort to see Katie dance. After she’d finished and her section were lined up on stage waiting for their results, I loved seeing her beaming at her friends who were there at the front cheering her on. At the back were her granny and grandad, just as proud. And in the middle was a crying wreck of a mama. I was relieved she just arrived on stage. That she did such a fantastic job, had such a wonderful time AND came away with a medal, well that was just so fabulous.