Our proud medalist

Amelia last week proudly accepted her medal for perfect attendance from her dance instructor Ms. Jane. My little ballerina also earned a certificate for completing her fourth year of dance, but was most proud of the medal, which she wore along with a big ol' grin from the moment she got it until she had to change clothes for bedtime.

The culmination of all her and her classmates hard work is the annual revue in which they strut their stuff and show off their skills. The revue was held Saturday evening at a lovely, state-of-the-art fine arts center in a neighboring city. The theme of the revue was "Television Memories" and each class performed a dance and tap routine to different TV theme songs.

Amelia's group performed a tap dance to the theme from "The Banana Splits" and closed out the show with the ending credits music from "The Carol Burnett Show."

Here they are tapping their toes to the beat. A big shout out to my friend Tela from whom I snatched this photo. That's her little man Gabe holding court in the middle of all these little ladies. 

They're getting ready to give their final bow after their ballet routine. Again, a big thanks to Tela for the photo!

 Amelia, having never seen or heard of either television show or their theme songs, cracked me up when she expressed her confusion as to why they were dancing to music "no one has even heard before." I tried to explain to her that most all the mommas and daddies as well as the majority of the grandparents in attendance would know the songs very well; but, ever my little skeptic, Amelia was positive these songs would go over like a lead balloon. She was happily surprised after the show to learn that so many people really liked the songs and took a trip down memory lane while listening to them.

Jeff's mom attended the show, as she has the last three, and our dear friend Ms. Hollie and her two oldest children Jesse-Grace and Duece came too. Amelia was thrilled to see each of them after the show and was so surprised when Ms. Hollie, Jesse-Grace and Duece gave her a necklace to reward her for a job well done. I managed to snap one photo of her before she took off to the bathroom to change out of her costume.

Lola wasn't going to stand for a photo being taken unless she was in it as well. She felt it was very important that I get her in the picture so she could show off her dress, which she loved so much she'd probably still be wearing it if I hadn't hidden it at the bottom of the laundry hamper. 

As Amelia and I were exiting the bathroom to meet up with Jeff, Grandmaw and Lola, I ran into my first-grade teacher Mrs. Harris. It was so nice to see her and really nice that she not only remembered me, but also that she remembered me fondly. I introduced her to Amelia, who is this week finishing up her first grade year, and Mrs. Harris shared with her that she recalls me being a good student and being "very smart."

I was thrilled with these accolades as was Amelia who thanked Mrs. Harris for her kind words about me. I wish I'd taken the time to thank her for being such a good teacher. I was so lucky to have her for my first grade year because she loved her job, loved each child and worked hard to help us hone our skills.

It was Mrs. Harris who discovered that I was a voracious reader and encouraged me to continue this habit. She also helped me to become a confident public speaker because she often picked me to read aloud to the class and never failed to compliment me on the mature way in which I was able to read to the group.

I wish I'd taken the time to share with her the impact she had on me during that pivotal year of school, but I knew I had people waiting on us and, well, I knew she had, ahem, "business" to attend to in the ladies room. Maybe I'll see her again at next year's revue since Amelia has decided she wants to dance for another year. Hopefully, I can catch Mrs. Harris somewhere other than the restroom in order to have the time to express my gratitude to her for touching my life in so many special ways.