Well, so, that’s it. The last ballet show is done for my Meghan at her dance studio she has spent countless hours at over the last 14 years or so. She played Belle in Beauty and the Beast. A dream role for her to say the least. She’s been in this ballet for so long I couldn’t even come close to naming all the roles she has played. She’s danced in countless competitions, she’s done a few plays, and been in somewhere near 100 dance recitals with all the shows they have at the end of her year, but for me, nothing compares really to a ballet show. As a guy, I need dialogue to understand what the hell is happening in a show. I need someone to spell out for me exactly what is happening. Or I need my wife sitting next to me telling me “See those 4 girls, they represent such and such” so I know what is happening. But, for these ballet shows my wife was always working in the sound booth or backstage, so I had to sink or swim quickly on my own. There are no words in a ballet. Nothing to help this novice audience member who just started to go to these shows because it was something I was supposed to do as a Dad.

But, then my daughter got a featured role in a ballet years ago.  She stressed and stressed and stressed some more before the show.  I watched her melt, fall completely apart, pick herself up and hit the stage.  And she told me everything I needed to know in every scene she was in. I know, I know, I’m her Dad, of course she is perfect, but this has nothing to do with that.  She sells her emotions on stage with what seems like the slightest movements or change in her body language.  It’s so easy to feel what she is feeling on that stage. 

With this being her last ballet show I saw a change in her.  Normally she is a complete nightmare to be around weeks before a show.  She puts so much on her shoulders, and she can’t control her emotions at home.  Her Mom is EXCELLENT during these times.  She knows when it’s the right time for ice cream for dinner or when she just isn’t going to sleep that night because she needs to hold her daughter and just listen to her and help her move away from the ledge.   I might complain about my wife in many ways, but I’d be lying if I ever said she wasn’t the best mom on this earth.  With her world having a million things moving all at once she always knows when it’s time to check in on the kids. 

Anyway, this year my daughter didn’t really have many of those stressful nights. I would ask her how she felt compared to years past and she would answer how she didn’t have the same fear, she had much more excitement for this show. I think with it being her last show she was able to appreciate everything all around her. She wasn’t worrying about each and every movement, she was enjoying each and every moment. It was a strange site for me to see.

With this being her last show, she had I think about 50 tickets purchased for family and friends.  She had two shows to do for her final ballet.  We took up a full row of seats to the early show with aunts and uncles and cousins, and some really awesome friends of Amy and I’s that never miss a chance to support our Meghan.  From under a year old all the way to almost 70 years old (love ya Dad), she has a wonderful family that supports her in everything she does.  For her final show that night she had every one of her ballet teachers in all her years of dancing and her own friends.  I LOVE her friends.  They are incredibly supportive.  But I own them their own blog so that is all I will say about them here. 

And, My Meghan didn’t disappoint, she was a fantastic Belle. She poured her little heart out on stage as she always has.  She had her family in tears in the audience, she had her little cousins’ eyes glazed over in amazement after the show when she had them on the stage with her.  Her ballet teachers gave the show a standing ovation.  It was really a perfect way to say goodbye to her ballet show career.  Although, something tells me we are no where near done with ballet. She has ballet in her DNA so I know I will be going to shows she choreographs or ones where she teaches at a studio with maybe her own kids.  But, for now, it was goodbye.  

I texted my daughter a few minutes before I left to come see the show as I always have telling her there’s nothing in my life I’ve enjoyed more than watching her on a stage and that as long as she sings from her toes everything will work out.  It’s a dumb thing I say, sing from your toes.  But it’s exactly what she does each and every time.  She pours her heart and soul out using her little tiny feet on that stage. 

After the final show she came out and hugged her friends, old dance teachers, and lots of the cast and took lots of pictures.  As most started to leave she looked at me and just sort of collapsed down on the auditorium stairs.  She sat silent for a minute or two appearing to just be taking it all in and then leaned over to me and “I can’t believe it’s over” …

Me either Meg.

Forever your # 1 Fan….