As a mom I feel I have been prepared for most things that have come my way. Premature baby. Okay. Emergency surgery for the Sun at age 2.5, stressful but we got it. International adoption, multiple hospital stays for the Moon, school, last minute homework assignments. Done, done and done. Deep breathe. First middle school dance. Okay, got it, right? Nooooooooooo.
I thought I had it. We had two events last night. Noah had his first ever dance while Arwyn had her big fall festival at school. We all dressed appropriately. Nathan and I dressed casually as we also were on the dance clean up crew. Arwyn dressed in her Halloween kitty outfit and Noah, as you can see, was dressed to impress. After the fall festival we dropped Noah at the dance and then hung out in the parking lot with another mom before heading over to Slow and Low for a shared plate of barbecue. Of course, we didn’t leave the parking lot before peeking in at the dance (helicopter, anyone?)
We arrived in the parking lot at school (did I mention he’s in Catholic school) promptly at 9PM. The dance was still going and we stood with the other parents watching our kiddos in their own environment. I can’t help but think I wasn’t the only one staring wistfully and wondering how on earth we got to this point….parents of a infant one day and parents of a middle schooler the next.
I guess you are wondering what the heck the problem is. This is all okay. It was…and then…..the lights came on and he came and found us. I casually said, “Did you have fun?” “Yes.” “Did you dance with anyone?” “Yes. We slow danced.” GULP. In that moment, I knew we had crossed a line. “Who did you dance with?” “I’ll tell you in the car.” Don’t panic. Take slow – deep – breathes. Just – keep – breathing. I turned to Nathan who did not hear the exchange. “I’m not ready for this.” It was all I could to to not burst into tears right then and there.
We found out in the car that three girls asked him to dance, which he happily obliged and a group asked him to dance with one of their friends who was too shy to ask. By that time, the strobe lights and heat had nearly overwhelmed him and he had to sit that one out. Luckily, they found another cute boy to dance with her.
Now that I am over the shock of having a kid going to a dance, I can look back at last night with joy that I have a smart, handsome kid that was confident enough to go alone to his first dance and is respected enough among his peers to have a gaggle of girls want to dance with him. There are many moments in my day when the words “Mom fail” come to mind. Last night was not one of those moments. I looked over at Nathan as we were driving home, the car quiet with tired children and said, “We did okay.”
“You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around – and why his parents will always wave back.” ~William D. Tammeus
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