The Nutcracker with Nana

Last year my mom asked if she could take the girls and I to the Nutcracker. It’s something we had talked about doing for years, but because of the girls’ ages we were afraid they wouldn’t make it to intermission, much less enjoy the entire ballet. I have fond memories of my mom taking me to the ballet in Amarillo as a little girl.

My best childhood memory of the ballet?

The first (and only) time my dad accompanied us, he leaned over about ten minutes into the ballet and said, “So, when do they start talking?”

Ever since then, it was a girls only event.

We managed to make it to last year’s ballet, but arrived by the skin of our teeth. We read the tickets incorrectly and barely made it in time. This year? We were so on the ball! We enjoyed a great Tex-Mex lunch with my dad prior to the show. Then, he gave us hugs and headed home to watch football. Mom and I were able to park, shop, check out the orchestra and get settled in our seats before the show began.

When asked their favorite part of the day, my girls said it was a tie between buying their very own Nutcracker and the cute mice in Act I of the ballet. My favorite part of the day came in a two pretty simple moments. We were walking up the stairs to the theatre. The girls and my mom were just ahead of me, holding Nana’s hands, gushing about what they were excited to see. The second was watching their faces when Mother Ginger came out on stage. He/she was hilarious!

Life is about the moments, isn’t it? I’m grateful God gave me so many this past weekend.

Mom, thanks for a really wonderful Saturday afternoon.