A Time to Grow

Recital Jitters

Addie - Age - Nearly 6
Peta - Pregnancy - 30 Weeks

"Momma, can I sit with you?" Addie said quietly as she fidgeted next to her mother.

"Sure sweet pea, come here." Peta said pulling her daughter up next to her. She shifted some and let Addie slip into her side. Addie snuggled in as tightly as she could considering her mother's 7 month pregnancy bump. She rested into her mother's chest as her hand twisted into the fabric of Peta's shirt hem. She remained quiet as she just snuggled with her mother.

"What's up sweetheart?" Peta asked after she had let them be quiet for awhile.

"I'm scared." She said softly, pressing into Peta even further if it was possible.

"For the recital?" Peta asked gently. Addie's dance recital was the next evening. The whole company was going to put on a show for the parents, families, and friends of the students. Addie and Grace's class was doing 2 pieces, 1 with a lot of their new ballet elements that they had learned over the semester and then 1 with just some fun lyrical elements and a tiny bit of their ballet skills. Up until this moment Addie had been so thrilled that she was going to get to show off everything that she had learned.

"Mmmhmm. I don't think I wanna do it anymore."

"Baby...you can't not do it. Can we talk about why you're scared?" Peta said softly as she rubbed her back.

"I guess." Addie said shrugging and snuggling in a bit more.

"Okay, we'll go slow. Okay and if you get extra upset you tell me and we'll take a break." Peta explained. They had learned recently to remind Addie to pause and collect herself if she needed. She got so worked up sometimes that she couldn't breath and they wanted to teach her how to combat that.

"I will."

"So when you think of the rectial, what is the first thing that you get scared about?"

"My dances."

"Forgetting them?"

"Yeah, I guess. And not doing them right. Like our positions and where we need to be. What if I mess up and everyone hates me for it momma? And then I can't dance anymore."

"Well sweet pea, first off, they wouldn't hate you. And I'll bet if we called Grace right now, she's just as nervous and thinks the same thing. But no matter what you do, this is your first time that you've been out there on a stage and doing your dances and I think you're going to do amazing because you're my Addie and I know you."

"But what if I don't? What if I'm really bad and you decide you're upset with me because i went to all the classes and then I did bad?"

"Sweet pea, no. No matter what happens tomorrow night, I would never ever be upset with you. And neither would Papa. If anything, it's the opposite, we are so proud of you for deciding you wanted to do this and for sticking with classes and practicing at home. And papa and I have danced, we know things happen so even if something were to go wrong, we wouldn't be upset with you. We'd want to help you so that if you wanted to continue taking classes, it wouldn't happen next time. But we'd never be upset with you."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Peta said pressing a kiss to her hair and squeezing her a little bit more.

"What about Miss Brynn or my friends? I don't want to let them down too."

"Baby, I honestly don't think you could. Miss Brynn is a smart teacher, she knows much like papa and I that things happen and you're friends, well like I said they are going to be just as nervous too. So it'll all be okay."