Be Still My Heart

Jilli had her first REAL dance recital. She was as beautiful as ever dressed up in her costume -- her favorite was the red lipstick, which she applied several times to both her and I over the last couple of days.

She had a wonderful group of supporters who drove 4 hours round trip to watch her dance for a total of 3 minutes -- now that's love!

When it was time for Jilli's big stage debut, she was quite nervous.  Later she would tell me that she kept whispering to herself, "Just do your best and forget the rest" over and over (thank you Tony Horton and the P90X workout videos for instilling in my child those inspiring words).

Nerves or not, as soon as the music came on she danced with the best of them.  Her graceful butterfly arms were the most beautiful up there.

My heart was so full watching my lovely daughter up on stage doing something she (and I) loves.

And since I'm not above bribery, I let her pick out a toy beforehand that she would receive if she danced big and beautiful so that we could all see her.  She got the toy.

We also celebrated with dinner out afterwards.  Jilli never made it long enough for her dinner to arrive.  It's tough work being a dancer.

And just for the record, the boys think it's completely unfair that Jilli gets showered with gifts from everyone for performing once.  They reminded me that they perform in ballgames weekly and all they get is a "thumbs up."  Sorry boys.