At a Cafe in Vermont — contemplations of a dance mom

Yes I have been drinking coffee and eating a glorified Rice Krispy treat in a cafe in Vermont while going through close to 400 emails — I think it was 388 emails while my children dance.  The problem of being a dance Mom.  It isn’t the driving … well sometimes it is when it is midnight and the snow starts falling, it is the waiting.  But Waterbury, VT has Green Mountain Free Trade Coffee so there are definitely worse places to wait!

Out the window is a picturesque New England Village Green with large stone monuments and a gazebo that reminds me of Jumanji (should I go to see if there is a board game there?)  In the past hour and a half I have personally witnessed both torrential rain and lovely sunshine.  The cafe has a lively Sunday morning business and I could replace my dead Keurig and buy a years supply of K-cups if I had the money or desire.

This is the ideal time to ask … why do I do it?  Is it me or is it the kids?  My kids have danced more than half their lives … my son was 6 and my daughter was 4.  My first thoughts were that I would have them dance and then if they found a sport they liked they could switch to that and dance would help them gain control and stamina and they would be prepared for any sport they decided upon.  Well in the 6 plus years that they have danced they have found no sports that they like better.  For the first two years of dance we lived within a half hour of the teacher and it was an easy trip.  Then we moved.

Now we live between 1.5 to 2 hours away from the teacher (depends upon traffic) — and we still travel… every week.  At first it was because I wanted to have a constant in their lives — I didn’t want them to feel they had to leave all their friends behind when we moved.  They still saw their dance teacher and they still saw their dance friends.  They have taken time off when they were thinking of doing other things — but they always returned to Highland Dance.

Highland Dance is a small tight-knit community.  Students and teachers are few and far between.  We are not the only family that travels 2 hours to a good teacher.  We help each other at competitions by sharing pins, hats and other dance paraphernalia.  We give and take advice about what has worked for us and we laugh and cry over achievements and sad events.  We step in and drive students when parents are ill and help Dads with girl’s hair styles when mothers have had to work and that darn hair donut is just unfathomable to the male mind!

Is it worthy of reality TV?  I don’t know — I haven’t seen cut-throat competitive tactics.  I see extended family that see each other on periodic weekends through the dance season.  Congratulating dancers when they move up to the next level of competition.  Commenting on the length of kilts and the growth of young dancers.  Like Scottish Festivals and the feeling of family … it is a small group when you think of it but the feeling of community and support is well worth the time and effort.

Just yesterday I learned about a college that had a Highland scholarship program and I was flabbergasted, really a $15,000 scholarship for Highland Studies?  Wow … maybe that is where I need to encourage my kids to go … but can they study nanotechnology there?

So until my kids find something else that they like better — they will stick to their friends and community that they have gotten to know over the past 6 plus years and learn more about self-discipline and exercise.  There are definitely worse lessons they could be learning!