The ballet incident that was fated to be.

This is not a proud-moment post, but sometimes in order to forget about something that makes me feel bad inside, I just have to write about it.


Brynn's Dress Rehearsal:

In which I get into a fight with a ballet dad, after months of restraint dealing with the crappy ballet school and the Horrible Ballet Moms...

We had to go to a local high school auditorium. It was 3pm, I was running late, and I had lost Bean's hairbow. By the time we got to the school, all four kids were asleep. It was 95 degrees and so humid that I was super sweaty seconds after leaving the house. Normally, I really hate putting the baby in the stroller for indoor events because it's so awkward and there's never room and I just hate being a lady with a big obnoxious stroller. Usually I put Wyatt in the sling and he's happy to be there. BUT, today, the sling was in the washer, and since I was really late I figured just this one time I would put him in the stroller.

In the auditorium, the back row of seats was broken up, probably with the intent of being wheelchair accessible. There were only two blocks of seats that had enough for all of us to sit in though, and just as I walked up to the one that was unoccupied, a guy plopped down. I said, "Nuts, I was just about to sit there." He shrugged, as if to say, "too bad". I note that he is alone, or at the very least not with a stroller, and I said "There's no way you could move forward just a row, so I could sit with my kids and not have to leave my stroller in the aisle?" And he said, "I'm here to videotape my kid, since I can't do it tomorrow". And I said, "Oh, I understand, I'm doing the same thing. There's no way you could do that from a row closer?" To which he said, "I'm sure you can sit somewhere else. Why are you asking me to move?" I said, "Well, these other areas where I can fit the stroller don't have enough seats for all of us to sit, and you don't need all of these seats". He replied, "Just ask yourself if there's anywhere else you can sit with a stroller. Just ask yourself." Jeepers, you'd think I was asking him to do something that would hinder his view of the stage or something. I wasn't.

Ok, obviously this guy is kind of a jerk, and I'm not getting anywhere. I didn't have anything else to do besides park the stroller in an aisle, down a step, and as I walked away I said, "Well, thanks, guy". Yes, I said it in a way that meant "thanks for nothing", but not as an invitation to throw down or anything. So then I hear, "Hey, lady, don't make me feel guilty because I'm here trying to videotape my kid". I turned and looked at him, and said, "I didn't realize that I could make jerks feel guilty. Besides, I was trying to make you feel bad about making me and my kids and my stroller sit in the seats that are meant for lonely single guys while you sit in the family section". At which point he told me to go to hell. And I said, "Really? That's the best you can do?" Then I laughed at him.

But I didn't feel like laughing. In fact, it totally ruined the enjoyment of watching Bean's recital rehearsal. After an incident like that, I felt self-conscious having to sit within eyesight of that guy. (I did briefly contemplate sitting directly in front of him, and being very tall, but decided that might be a bit much.) I used to get a lot of satisfaction out of being a jerk to people that I thought deserved it. In this case, the guy really did deserve it, and I totally won the insult-a-thon, but there was no satisfaction in it and driving home I actually wondered if I might cry. Bean's group went first, and while we weren't required to stay initially I thought we could watch some of the other groups perform. After the Incident, I just wanted to be out of there.

Is this what being a grown up is like? Because I sort of miss being an immature thug, if that's the case. And I knew I shouldn't have let that guy get to me, and that I shouldn't have lowered myself to insulting him. That's why, when I ran out of space on the memory card 20 seconds before the end of Brynn's performance and missed the finale, I knew I had done wrong. I always get burned by my own bad karma after doing stuff like that, and you'd think I'd learn.

In conclusion:


We're leaving for MN tomorrow. Our whole trip was delayed by a day so that we could take Brynn to her recital, which I figured would be a huge thing for her. We were going to have to sit with all our kids through a 2 1/2 hour minimum recital in which my daughter was performance #38, duration 2 minutes 38 seconds, on the program. Videotaping and pictures are prohibited so that you buy theirs. (Well, I wasn't going to abide by that rule, but it irked me anyway).

I'm totally ditching it. Not only did I lose the hairbow, but since they were measured for their costumes in October, hers doesn't fit her and she complained that the straps hurt the second she put it on. I didn't even get any pictures of her in it, since she ripped it off the second we walked in the door. Second, that auditorium is not nearly big enough for the number of people that will be there for that recital. Third, I am so over this dance studio and will be searching for a new one this summer. Fourth... Brynn doesn't care. Now that she thinks her recital is done, she's moved on to being ready to leave for Grandma's house. And after months and months of rehearsal, none of those girls really looked like they even knew what they were doing. (I'll post a link to the performance if I can get everything packed before we have to leave).

And so, tomorrow, we'll be on our way HOME. I need this. I've been so homesick lately. I hate feeling like all I ever think about is moving back up north, but every once in a while I just need to recharge my Midwestern side so that I can come back to TX and fight off all the hillbillies. Then I can come back, and enjoy my life here where the weather is good and I have a nice house and a good life-- at least until my next bout of homesickness :)