IF - faded

Like a faded spring blossom or a wilted lilac flower, 

  her smile   faded 

     by evening's end...

I know how this gal feels... we had such an incredibly busy weekend, surviving our first ever dance season and final show - enough to make any mom feel a bit faded by the end

...having to remember feather gloves, the perfect shade of lipstick, a gallon of hairspray and a gazillion hair pins, 

...to tell a little ballerina not to do twirls on the dusty floor with just washed stockings, don't cry after I put on mascara, don't kiss anyone with the lipstick - but oh please have FUN ;)

At 7:30 - past her bedtime and supper time, she appears on the big stage, I'm perched right up and so nervous for her. She has a huge smile, mine is even bigger. Tears fill my eyes and my weary heart pumps up with pride. We did it, she is doing it AND she is having FUN. Beautiful chaotic mayhem, as only a group of preschool ballerinas can do

Afterwards we pick her up and swirl her around - our little girl a performer!

She is on a performance high, hugging her friends goodbye, showing us some of her own moves - now twirling on the floor and I don't care. Lipstick smeared she looks at me - "I wanna do that again!!!"

And even though I am exhausted I feel her joy, I remember how childhood fades so quickly, and how as adults we need to sacrifice our own rest to make their childhoods absolutely magical...and so I commit to another year of being a certain ballerina's mommy - making a note to save the lipstick and invest in hair pin stocks.