I guess she's grown up now!

So last night Capriel and Breck and I went down to see Brigette's Sleeping Beauty performance. As always seems to be the case, we had our share of reasons that it wasn't convenient to go. This particular time it was because Capriel was still fighting the stomach flu. She'd done pretty well for almost a day, but right as I came in to start getting ready she raced to the bathroom and vomited this incredible quantity of reddish-brown stuff everywhere. When we arrived after hearing her crying we thought it was blood, she was screaming because she thought that we were mad at her. Anyway, we cleaned her up amidst her emotional drama and against Craig's advice I threw her in the car. She almost immediately fell asleep and slept until we arrived in Payson. We had made good time so I decided to get some dinner. (It was nearly 7pm) I pulled over at a Subway one of Breck's favorite and pulled Capri out of the van. Breck began ordering while Capriel whined. She finally enunciated enough to say that she needed to throw up again. We went into the bathroom for another noteworthy vomiting experience. Of course there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. It took quite a while to clean up after which I raced out to pay for Breck's sandwich (no time and no appetite for me now) and we raced to the recital. I felt the entire time like I was holding a bomb about to erupt. I held her on my lap and talked to her constantly to keep her focus on the ballet. I tried desperately to curb her incredible thirst-hoping to prevent any more upheavals or at least limit their quantity. I kept a ziplock open at all times in my right hand and had the bathroom scouted out. She felt quite poorly, but loves dancing and Brigette enough that she survived the production without having to yak. I felt upon getting in the van like I had just taken an intense 3 hour test, one that required all the patience, focus and skill I had. I wanted so badly for her to be there to watch Getti's dancers.

Really though, that is beside the point. Where my thoughts have really been focused is how impressive my little sister really is. I was able to first observe her handywork-her creation. The amount of energy, detail, creativity, and organization to pull off a complex production like that is beyond my understanding. I struggle to orchestrate a primary talk or a matching outfit for five kids for pictures. It was so fun to see Brigette come out in the dancers. I could just see some of her personality, her spunk, or passion resounding for her choreography and dancers styles. I loved how well she told the story with her dancers, how smoothly things ran, how much variation there was to her dances. I enjoyed the intermixing of the ages, the different moods she created, and the overall beautiful dancing that I saw. But what I loved most occurred after the show. First, the to-be birth Mom for her adopted child and her family were there, which presented a fascinating and very unique situation. Brigette was warm, comfortable, friendly and at ease with them. All the while, she is having girls come up to hug her, ask her questions, Mom's talking to her, everyone asking her what to do and when to return their costumes, etc....I know that by the end of this whole production where she has spent countless recent hours with dress/tech rehearsals, an afternoon matinee, with the incredible amount of preparation, and work that takes place before and after each show---she had to be exhausted. She remained smiley, confident, calm, and warm. I could again tell that she was loved, respected, and appreciated. I could tell that she was making a real difference in the lives of so many people on a personal level. I came away with my two girls realizing that even though my sister has had many things in her life not work out how she planned or wanted them to, she has not let that stagnate her. She has taken her life and made something beautiful and good out of it. She has touched my life, the life of my children, the lives of her siblings and parents and the lives of her students. She has inspired us to believe in ourselves, to be brave enough to try, to find and create beauty with what we've been given. My little sister, I guess, has grown up; and she is a beautiful thing to behold. I treasure her and all the kindness and love she has shown to me and my family. She has taken personal interest in my kids and given them so many fun experiences and teaching and extra enrichment and love. I love her and admire her and look up to her. Thanks Brigette

PS In reading this I realized that I hadn't explained the cause for the striking color of Prillies throw-up. We found out that she had eaten a large bag of chocolate chips earlier in the afternoon! Have you ever smelled chocolate throw up? A fun new experience!