Dance Distractions

I just realized it has been almost two weeks since I've written here...  I assure you, there is a reason and it has everything to do with a major announcement a couple of weeks ago at Big Sister's dance studio.  Turns out the economy has really hit everyone everywhere and after 27 years our director is retiring and closing.  This is very sad news by itself as Big Sister will have to make new friends and most likely not have all her dance "sisters" with her next year.  But, more pressing has been the search for a new dance studio with amazing teachers who will continue to mold her and hone her dance skills.  (The kid has to pay her way through college somehow, people!)  So, I've been away playing obsessive Dance Mom and letting every aspect of my writing suffer.  *sigh*

Between approaching total strangers at the school talent show last week asking where they dance (accompanied by looks that said clearly they were taught never to talk to strangers!), endless phone calls with my sister-in-law who is equally as obsessed with finding THE PERFECT dance studio for our girls, hundreds of text messages with other Moms to compare notes on new places, and visits and phone calls to potential studios we were able to find a great place close to home where Big Sister and her dancing cousin will now call home.  Thank god it only took a couple of weeks and we can now just focus on settling in for the summer schedule and team tryouts later this month.

Tonight is the Year End Show at our beloved studio where they get to showcase what they've been working on all year... accompanied by a ton of tears from the girls I'm sure!  The show will also feature a bonus "Parents Dance" which this Dance Mom will be participating in.  Not only am a "Dance Mom", I am now quite literally a dancing Mom.  Next weekend is their final competition in Las Vegas where the dancing Mom will also be competing.  It's silly, I know, but I'm LOVING getting to dance again after 25 years, enjoying every practice and looking forward to our performances.

I had a breakthrough in figuring out how to write a pivotal scene in my novel - thanks to an inspirational 4-mile walk with a writing buddy - and I can't wait to refocus my efforts on my writing now that all the dance distractions are dealt with. Now, where's my coffee?