Month: June 2015

One measure of a child’s development−the annual dance recital

/ CeceliaMason WV / Leave a comment

This week marks the culmination of another year of dance lessons for my 12-year-old daughter−and a year’s worth of chauffeuring her and her friends to and from lessons three evenings a week as they study the fine art of ballet, jazz, tap, modern and pointe. All week she and the other students in her dance school have spent many dedicated hours rehearsing for the annual recital.

It seems like just yesterday that my then four year old stood on the stage at the local high school for her first rehearsal. I watched as she reached behind and grabbed the bottom of her leotard to adjust it and make it more comfortable. I asked the teacher later if I should talk to my daughter about not making that adjustment on stage during the performances. The teacher smiled knowingly and replied, “No, don’t say anything, that’s a crowd pleaser.”

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On the left is this year’s pre-pointe costume. On the right is the first ballet costume from nine years ago.

This week I sneaked a peek through a crack in the door as my daughter’s class rehearsed­. They were moving so elegantly on the stage as they practiced their pre-pointe performance, standing tall and straight, taking precise steps as they raised up on the very tips of their toes. None of these girls would ever in a million years make that “crowd-pleasing” adjustment that my daughter made to her leotard when she was just four.

But here’s the thing about seeing your child take dance, or participate in any other activity that builds a particular skill, from the time she is a tiny tot. Each year during the recital you see huge change and progress. The girls in the class not only get taller and look more grown-up, they are also measurably better and more skilled as they master increasingly complicated dance steps and choreography. And seeing our once-little girls up there on stage leaves some of us ‘dance moms’ feeling a tad bittersweet as we realize our daughters are becoming teenagers.

The pros, cons, and oddities of caller ID

/ CeceliaMason WV / Leave a comment

RotaryPhoneI’m old enough to remember when phones were plugged into the wall and did not come with amenities like voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, and caller ID. I’m also old enough to remember learning phone etiquette, which generally involves pleasantly identifying yourself when you first started speaking.

It seems as caller ID has become ubiquitous, all those phone manners that folks my age learned as children are no longer taught. Few people begin a call by identifying themselves and asking to speak to the person they are trying to reach. They just start talking, and assume the caller ID has announced their name. I admit, I’ve been known to occasionally demand identification from a teenager who fails to use proper etiquette when calling the house.

But there’s one aspect of having caller ID that befuddles and, quite frankly, annoys me. Recently I wanted to find out if a particular restaurant in town was open. I used my cell phone to look the restaurant up online. When I couldn’t immediately find the hours posted, I tapped my screen to call. But instead of hearing a message saying I’d reached the restaurant I heard what obviously was someone’s personal voice mail, so I hung up without leaving a message. Wrong number. Oh well, these things happen.

An hour or so later my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway. Someone on the other end said “I see you called my number.” Back in the stone-ages when the phone was plugged into the wall and you dialed a wrong number no one called you back demanding to know why you called their number. Because there was no caller ID, they probably didn’t even know you called at all. I will never understand why people today feel compelled to ring up perfect strangers who misdialed to find out why they called.