Winter Reflections

Another December prompt is “Winter Reflections: How does the winter season make you feel, and what does it symbolize for you?” I have been “reflecting” on this post for a couple days, thinking of so many stories I could share. As I mentioned in the last post, this time of year is often a hard one for me. I have been thinking about what happier stories I could share in regards to winter, and my Facebook Memories gave me just the inspiration.

A little back-story – for 8 years, from 2010 to 2018, my daughter Martha took dance lessons at the amazing Studio 34 Dance Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. She started with a one hour combo class at three years old – learning ballet, tap and jazz. By 1st grade, she was taking those classes as full hour classes, so we went to the studio three times a week! To say that dancing was “her thing” is an understatement. She loved it from day one, and has continued to dance to this day (more on that later).

What does that have to do with winter reflections? Well, my Facebook memories at this time of year always are filled with photos from the winter dance recitals that were always held around the second week of December. Photos of a growing Martha remind me each December of those special days. (Her brother also started dancing around 2014, so his photos fill up my feed too).

Because Martha has severe food allergies, I was a regular volunteer backstage for the dance recitals. She was so little, and her allergies are so severe, I needed to be present and available for snacks and meals. It was always a LOT of fun, and even MORE work, especially in those early years with 12-15 3 or 4 year olds, who had to hang out for almost 10 hours, and participate in two recitals. We had games and Barbies and crafts and snacks to keep them busy alllllll day long. What a blessing it was to be so involved, year after year.

Of course, being backstage mom had it’s drawbacks. I didn’t get to watch her or her friends dance except from the wings. We always rushed out to watch from one side or the other, and it was lovely, but it was not quite the same as watching from a seat in the theater. I think it was about year 3 that the owner of the studio showed me a secret passageway that I could rush to where I could crouch down and watch the dancers on stage. I remember it taking my breath away, (and of course made me cry) watching the lovely ballerinas.

We moved away from Las Vegas in 2018, and the 2017 winter show was her last dance recital with Studio 34. I can honestly speak for all of our family that leaving behind the dance classes, studio and recitals was one of the hardest parts about moving away. Our Decembers have never been quite the same without that week of rehearsals culminating in winter recital.

As I mentioned before, Martha is still dancing. She was able to dance with one studio here, and even travelled with them to Walt Disney World her freshman year to dance in a Disney Magic parade. She transferred to a larger studio a couple years ago, and we now drive an hour each way to dance classes. This year is her last year to dance before graduating and moving on to college, and she has aspirations of teaching tap dance to little dancers while she’s in college and maybe beyond. I will always be thankful that we had the opportunities we had, and the very special winter memories we made, year after year.

P.S. (Another time, I’ll talk about the extremely HOT memories we made each year for the June recitals).

P.S.S. I hope you will consider joining in, using the Blog Prompts to tell YOUR story! You can sign up to receive the prompts HERE, and follow me on Facebook and Instagram to share your story too!