Oh, hai.

Me: whats your name?

Student: Vivienne

Me: how old are you?

Student: three.

Me: and whats your favorite thing about thanksgiving?

Student: Christmas!

There you have it, folks. The answer to the great American debate.

Just kidding.

Hi, it’s been a minute. I’ve had every intention of writing posts before this, but excuses excuses, who really cares why I haven’t. Point is I’m writing one now! Yay! It’s a thanksgiving miracle!

As if there was any doubt, my kids are stinking adorable. I taught on my birthday, proving there isn’t much cuter than tiny 3 and 4 year olds hugging your leg and saying, “happy birfday, miss Emilee!” Maybe only rivaled by the kid who dressed up in a dinosaur costume for Halloween. I wish I could post pictures because, y’all, it’s the cutest thing ever. (This is the same child quoted at the opening of this post.”

I’ve gotten to sub a couple classes older than the classes I usually teach. It was really fun getting to work with 8-10 year olds and watch as it starts to click in their brain. To give them complex tasks and watch them rise to it. It inspired me with my 6-8 year olds and im starting to see real progress with them.

Please know that I have managed to pick all my recital songs from Harry Potter movie scores. It’s super fun having the parents as excited as I am about it. The potter generation is the best–I’m convinced.

Nutcracker is just around the corner. I am a party parent again, which is so much fun. I got the two party girls I wanted, and even a party boy this year, who is the son of a friend of mine. He’s so stinking cute and seriously the sweetest. I have my same party husband, so that’s a hoot as always. I’m super grateful to be in this family I’m in.

All my babies are doing really well with their roles. It’s super mind blowing to know the girls whose level I started in are seniors this year. They were definitely eleven to thirteen when I danced with them. What the heck, time?! I’m super proud of them all, though, and excited to see where life takes them.

My back has been progressively getting worse, albeit subtly. Sitting hurts about 90% of the time now, including when we sit in a circle at the beginning of my baby classes. I’m super grateful for my assistants who step up and demonstrate things I’m not able to any more. It helps my stubborn self do what I actually need to do Instead of pretending I’m okay and doing things my body can no longer do.

Sometimes I think that maybe I’m okay enough to take barre, but then doing the barre with the older kids classes I was subbing reminds me that I am indeed still sick and definitely can’t try and do the things I used to be able to. But for those moments before my body reminded me of the fact I’m not who I used to be, so essentially during plies, I felt so alive. I was reminded of why I love ballet so much, of how it rushes through you and engages every fiber of my being, filling it with electricity, connecting me to thousands of dancers before me. And just as quickly, we get to frappes, and my heart starts racing, my muscles tense up, and I feel energy draining as quickly as I felt energized. I’m reminded of my limitations. Even so, those 6 minutes of bliss were worth it. I know I can’t do this consistently–it’s too much for my body to endure right now–but I am grateful for the moments, the glimpses, I still get.

I’ll hopefully have more updates during nutcracker. I love to have these moments documented to go back on. My laptop crashed and my phone is pretty messed up, making updates more difficult than just my health makes it, but I’ll hopefully have my replacement laptop by the time nutcracker is in full swing and I’ll find some way to get pictures of I have to keep taking my assistants phones to get them 😂 (thanks girls)

I hope you all are well. Thanks for sticking with me even in these stretches of silence. ❤️