This weekend was Caitlin and Taylor's dance rehearsal and recital. Talk about a long weekend!! They did really well and Taylor was adorable! (Caitlin was in a hip-hop class so I can't really say hers was "adorable," but she did really well!)
This pic was taken a couple weeks ago at their pictures. I hate how my new and "better" camera often takes blurry pics. I so shouldn't have sold my old one.
Yes, they are wearing make-up. Their instructor insists it be worn for performances and pictures so that their "faces can be seen from the stage," in hideous colors, no less. They, of course, love it.
I'm going to try to put in a video of Taylor and some other little girls dancing on the floor at the rehearsal as another group was rehearsing on stage. It was adorable.
Sometimes something happens to you and affects you so deeply, you are never quite the same. When "that something" is a negative experience, the wounds can take a long time to close. Sometimes they never do. Until last night, I had been through two such experiences. There were two times in my life that I was hurt so badly, I will always remember these times as the most difficult, horrible times in my life. The first was my parents' divorce when I was 15/16. After that, I thought that nothing worse than that could ever possibly happen to me. Well, that experience was matched when I became pregnant with my first child and was jerked around for months by my then boyfriend and father of my child before finally being abandoned when I was at my neediest and most vulnerable.
Last night was another changing time in my life. This experience was unique from the other two. It will probably not entail months of hard-core conflict. Or maybe it will; who knows. This experience will likely not change the physical make-up of my life. I will not be physically losing anyone. There is no concrete separation. Life will continue more or less as usual. This loss is purely emotional. It's the kind of loss that happens when someone you trust crushes your soul and rubes salt in your open wounds. It's the kind of pain you feel when you have been completely and utterly rejected by the person you are sharing your life with. It's the way you feel when you look into that person's eyes and see not love, but pure hate. When a new day dawns and the anger is washed from their face and life is supposed to continue on as usual, you realize that not only will your relationship never be the same, but YOU will never be the same.
I became a single mother at age 20 when I had my first child in March 2000. It was not the life I had planned or expected. The plan was to get a college education, travel, live the single life for a while, and eventually get married and have kids. Well, I got off track with my education, fell in love, lost my senses and found myself expecting a daughter. Unfortunately, my relationship fell apart, as my boyfriend was not ready for family life. Though things were tough for a while, I embraced motherhood and finally understood true love. Eventually, I got back on track with my education, married a wonderful man, and have now been married over six years and we've had two daughters together. Now, Caitlin is 9, Taylor is 5, and baby Noelle is 1. We're expecting one more in May 2010! My husband also had a child from a previous relationship, Zayne, who is 12. Sometimes I let myself get too stressed out by the little things in life, but I know I've got it pretty good!