Dance Lessons

Hello all!! Christa had her Spring dance recital tonight, and it, of course, was nothing less than amazing! I decided that I didn't want to miss a second of her performance, so I got a sitter for the little girls, so that I could focus all of my attention on my big-little-girl's dances. I was not disappointed - she (and the rest of her classmates) rocked the stage!
Christa is learning how to dance, and I am learning something, too. You see, I tend to get a bit stressed out over these types of things - dance recitals, school performances, professional photo appointments, birthdays, family holidays, etc. I just want things to be perfect at these once-in-a-lifetime events each and every time. I'm getting more relaxed and more comfortable with practice, but it does not take much for that relaxation and comfort to turn into stress and frustration. Because I want things to be perfect. For my little girls. And not only do I want these events to go perfectly, but I want them perfectly documented on video and still photos... and on a well-laid-out-blog! So that I can re-live the experience later, as many times as I want. Because I have so much free time to do that :)
I've found over the last four years that this desire and goal of doing everything single little thing right each and every time steals a lot of my joy. My efforts to live every event to it's fullest seem to prevent me from living any event to it's fullest, because I'm distracted by the pressure to not miss out on anything. This Christmas, after a series of exhausting and stressful ones, I told myself that whatever we got to do would be enough. And whatever pictures I took, or video I got - it was to be good enough. I made a concerted effort to be content with what happened, and I successfully resisted the urge to dwell on the great photo-ops that I missed..... and the Christmas lights we didn't go see... and the mall picture with Santa Claus that was never taken. I have to say, this past Christmas was the best one yet. I lived in the moment, documented enough to remember the important parts, and I look back on those pictures and those memories with joy.
Now that Christa is getting to an age where she can "perform," the temptation to watch each of her events through a camera lens is great... especially for this Type A mom who has waited her whole life to have beautiful pictures and video of her children being children. Every single time we have a performance, it's like there's a little voice whispering, "She's only going to do this once, so you'd better get magazine-worthy pictures, while taking Oscar-winning video, while enjoying the live performance as much as you possibly can. Before you know it, she'll be in college, and if you miss out on these photo-ops, you will regret it *forever*!!"
This Spring, I made a compromise with myself. I took my video camera and my trusty Canon Rebel to the dress rehearsal, and got the pictures and video. They are not perfect pictures and video, but they are *good enough.* And I made a commitment to myself that I would enjoy Christa's Spring Recital as it was meant to be enjoyed - LIVE - not through a camera lens. Because she's only going to do this once. And one day, after I blink a few more times, she'll be in college, and I want to remember how much I enjoyed watching her on stage - not adjusting the zoom lens on my camera. It was fantastic - a once-in-a-lifetime event! Never again will she get on that stage, with that group of kids, in that costume, and do those moves to that music. I was there; I saw it live! I may have missed a few great photo ops, but I made a memory that a picture just can't capture.

I am glad that I have this picture, taken right after the dress rehearsal:

I am *super* glad that my father-in-law decided he didn't mind watching the performance through his camera lens, so that I also have these pictures of the live performance:




She really was adorable! They danced to "Going to the Chapel."

Unfortunately, my father-in-law had to leave before her second number, and he left his awesome camera with the really expensive lens with me. I took one teeny tiny picture at the very beginning of the dance, and turned the camera off.....
...but halfway through, I couldn't resist getting this shot:

... and just really quickly, this shot:

... because I only have so much will-power when someone hands me a really nice camera with a really expensive lens while my daughter is dressed like a butterfly, strutting her stuff :)