On the first day of competition everything was normal, Emma's group dances that she is in cleaned house, just as we hoped for! They were beautiful, clean, emotional, high energy, everything they needed to be. It was a long day, we got there at 12:30pm and got home that night at 12:15am - loooong day.
The next day lucky for us, we didn't have to be there until 3pm so she got to sleep in and relax. She decided to run her solo a few times at home first and practice. Her nerves got the best of her and took over her brain and she couldn't do a turn to save her life. Emma is a pretty strong turner, probably one of her strongest things, but you wouldn't know it to watch her practice. After her break down, a blessing from her father and running it several more times she got it back. She was a little wobbly, but had it way better than she did earlier. Her solo time finally came and she did pretty good. It was not her best by any means, but it was good and I still light up watching her dance anyways. The nerves took over once again and she didn't ham it up like usual and her turns were wobbly again. It was a super hard competition anyways and we knew she didn't really stand a chance to win, but you always just want for them to do their best and that's all I ever ask for. Awards finally came and like we thought, she didn't score very well. As soon as it was over and hurried back to the dressing room so I could grab her and get her out of there as quickly as possible so she wouldn't be crying in front of everyone. I beat her back to the dressing room and I loaded everything up in my arms and I was just standing there waiting for her. She came through the doors, I took a deep breath, looked at her and she said, "Can I have my flip flops please?" OF COURSE you can have your shoes and anything else you may want to stop you from the break down I know is coming any second. We talked for a minute and she was smiling and already talking about a joke she would make to Stacia about putting a back hand spring into her solo to help her score more points. I fell in love with her at that moment. I told Emma, I would much rather hang out with her being a happy loser then the other girl who was a crying winner because she didn't place high enough. I was so proud of her and to be her mom. I grabbed her hand, kissed her on the cheek and marched proudly out of that dressing room hoping everyone would see her and know that that was my kid!! She always amazes us as our daughter, but yesterday she shined even brighter.
Last night after Emma had just gone to bed we got a text message from her teacher, it was so sweet that I wanted to put it in here for her to always remember:
Message delivery for Emma: I hope that you are very proud of yourself tonight and this weekend. I love you so much and I am very proud of you!! I think the judges might be blind or crazy!! As your coach, I give you 8th place in a ridiculously hard Jr category! I hope that means more to you than those crazy judges. We have some work to do with your flexibility, but you looked amazing and I was very proud to be your coach! I love you beautiful, talented, sweet girl! xoxo.
I just thought both Emma and Bella looked super cute in their solo costumes in this picture!
No comments:
Post a Comment