A Lesson for Us All

Day 145 - 10:03am, 26 May 2019

Little Miss tootles off to the Junior Gang Show auditions. The Gang Show in the Kings Theatre has been going on longer than I have. On one hand, I want encourage her to try new, big and scary things, and on the other, I am permanently exhausted and find myself wondering how on earth we would ever fit rehearsals in.

She is confident. According to her, she is the best dancer in her school class. And, to be fair, she probably is. She has a style and grace to her, and such precision in her movements that she is a joy to watch, even without having much in the way of formal dance training (she gave up ballet and tap a couple of years ago). We point out to her that there are lots of other talented girls in Edinburgh who will also be auditioning and as eight is the minimum age, she will be one of the youngest there. While I don't think she is likely to get in, she is determined to try. I think it may be a useful life lesson.

So I drop her off at the church where the audition is being held. There are none of her immediate chums there and she hesitates slightly when she has to leave me at the reception desk and head on through to a back room alone. But off she goes and I leave her to it.

When I return, she is with some Brownies from her pack. She is clutching an envelope and is beaming. "We all got in!" she tells me. The one to learn a life lesson here is me, never underestimate your daughter.

In my defence, when I was a child, I auditioned to be part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. The night before, coming down the stairs, I overheard my mum and dad speaking in the kitchen saying I would be a nightmare if I didn't get in. I didn't. It was particularly hard for me because I loved that sort of thing despite not being a natural at it, and I think there were only two of us in my class that weren't selected and they would disappear off to rehearsals. It did hurt, but I put a positive spin on it at home about how close I came. I hope I showed them, just as Little Miss showed me.