Last month my daughter's school had a sock hop. They had games, music, food, and of course a small dance. It was probably the cutest thing I had ever been to. All of the kids dressed up in "50's" attire, were dancing in little groups and then going around giggling. This was essentially their very first school dance. Beau was able to meet us at the school in order to attend this function so Emery was really happy about that. The majority of the parents either sat up in the bleachers or walked around trying to keep up with their kids. As soon as we walked in Emery found her two best friends and we definitely got our cardio in trying to keep up with all three. I honestly don't remember much from my first school dance. I think we had to dress up in the same style, but I don't think I had as much fun. I didn't even get up to dance. I've always been self-conscious of my body, even back then, and I think it kind of put a damper on a lot of things for me. Thankfully, this was not the case for Emery at all.
As we sat up in the bleachers during a momentary break I sat back and watched her run around. She was beaming and laughing the entire time. She zoomed across the room to do a hula hoop contest and once that was done she was back at it with her friends dancing to the songs the DJ was playing. She played several games, and there were a lot of pictures being taken. Peace signs being thrown, and boys being chased. I was so happy watching her enjoy herself. She was surrounded by her friends, and actually getting out there in front of everyone too. She gets that from her dad, and I am so grateful. I leaned over to Beau and said, "She looks so grown up, doesn't she?" I'm pretty sure that I was tearing up as I watched her run around. "So, grown up," he replied. And we just sat there taking it all in. It's as if we were getting a little glimpse into the future. Somehow we blinked and our baby was no more. I reached over and squeezed his arm. He placed his hand on mine for a moment, and we just smiled as we watched her together. "MOM! DAD! WE HAVE TO GO TO THE OTHER BUILDING! THEY HAVE NACHOS AND COOKIES!! HURRY, LET'S GO!" Emery shouted over the music. "WHAT?? NACHOS?!?! WELL WHAT ARE WE STILL DOING HERE?? LET'S GO!" Beau shouted back. We let go with a laugh, and off we went in search of their favorite food.
We left about ten minutes before the entire thing was over. Emery held onto her dad, and they skipped out into the parking lot. We said goodbye to a few people we knew as we made our way to the car. We gave hugs all around and said goodbye to Beau. On our way home, Emery said that she was happy we all got to go with her. She was sad that the night had to end, but not even halfway out of town she fell asleep in the back seat. Her little cat glasses thrown off to one side, one shoe off, and her scarf untied. A slight smile on her face, and a smudge of nacho cheese still on her chin. And there she was, my little baby again.
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