I've been holding off posting here to leave time for various folks to find Dad's eulogies... but that small voice in the back of my head kept telling me I wasn't done with the blog just yet.
It's been a very, very tough year... the deepest low so far was having to bury my uncle on the 15th, with the one-year anniversary of losing Dad coming up on the 18th. That said, I've decided that I still have some stories of my own to tell here, and -- with my teenaged(!) niece's permission -- some more stories of hers as well.
The Pipsqueak's come a long, long way since Dad's 80th birthday back in 2010, somehow morphing from a very small, scrawny, occasionally very loud near-toddler into a well-spoken, highly intelligent, very self-aware young woman with a work ethic & ability to plan things ahead that's more than slightly scary to her "not sure what to do next" uncle. :-)
Although she does not want to do it professionally, she's always been interested in dancing. Her first classes & performance were at the age of three (part of her daycare, not my lil' sis being a "dance mom") and she's never looked back. Don't get me wrong; she WORKS at it, sometimes to the point where we have to remind her it's okay to back off once in a while or that missing one class ain't gonna hurt... but it comes to her naturally, and it's not at all unusual for her to just sort of break out into a mini-routine for no specific reason every now and again. (She first showed an interest in dance on her 2nd day home, when she got so into swaying back & forth in time to some music that she pretty much knocked herself over a couple of times.)
Anyway, before I blather on to the point where I forget what I planned on typing here... We all have MANY reasons to be proud of this amazing small family member, but I wanted to share a bit about her dancing.
(Quick info: Miriam is a member of the dance team for the studio where she takes classes, and they compete in multiple competitions in the February-June timeframe each year. Each competition is run by a different organization, all independent of each other.)
Back when we knew we were actually losing Dad, she made a point of being present, but there was a major dance competition coming up and we all encouraged her to compete as originally scheduled. She couldn't do anything to change the situation with her Grandpa, but watching her dance (the event was livestreamed and I had my laptop in the hospital) was comforting for us all.
Just before going onstage, she told the coach and one of the other adults that she was dedicating the dance to her Grandpa, and we watched her walk onstage with a sureness of motion and intent that belied her concerns. She danced beautifully, fluidly, and gracefully... all while Dad's breathing slowed... slowed... stopped; the music for her solo was the last music he ever heard.
For that first performance, knowing she was losing her beloved Grandpa, she was awarded a Platinum medal, placed 9th overall in the entire competition, and received a special Judges' Award as "most poised dancer."
That was the season's 2nd competition; a couple of weeks earlier at the Precision Arts Challenge Competition (the first time she'd ever performed her solo in front of judges) she was awarded a Platinum medal and placed in the top ten; she even got one of only six "PAC Attack" callbacks to perform her solo a 2nd time at the end of the competition so the judges could just enjoy it without having to critique anything.
At the March 25th Legacy Dance Competition, she was again awarded a Platinum medal, placed 3rd overall in her age group, and won a Judges' Special Award for "outstanding focus" while dancing.
At the May 14th WCTE (World Class Talent Experience) competition, she was awarded 5 out of 5 stars, placed 8th overall in the competition, and received a Special Judges' Award for "obvious feeling in performance and love of dance."
So how is this year going? I'm going to gloss over a lot of crap... but it hasn't been all bad. There have been moments of joy, moments of beauty, and a few precious hours of just enjoying each others' company.
We are also now into another competitive dance season... and Miriam has two solos instead of the usual one. One solo, which she has not yet competed because she's still polishing it, is entitled "All the Parts of Me" and is a fusion of Modern Western and Classical Chinese dance (complete with parasol). We're looking forward to her bringing this into the public eye at the next competition in a week or two. Her other solo she competed for the first time ever last night at the Revolution Talent Competition. The results? A Platinum medal, first place in her category, and 9th overall in her age group in the highest of 2 levels of judging -- the only member of her studio to place at all in that level.
We are all so stinkin' proud of this young lady.
