Deja vu All Over Again

Let me just start by saying, "go ahead and send up prayers for me now." Followed by, "if you are a new reader, go back to August, September, and October reads to familiarize yourself with Oldest Child." The question that has been ever-present in my mind since 6:30 pm is "Why did I agree to this?" Whatever am I talking about, you ask?? You will be happy to know that Oldest Child is the newest member of the dance team at her NEW HIGH SCHOOL - OMG!! (applause, applause!). Do you remember the drama? Do you remember the cat fights? Do you remember the girls gone bad episodes that made up the middle school dance team? Do you remember the fact that she and Other Dancer were FIRED from being co-captains because of said drama?

dé·jà vu - n. 1. Psychology The illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time. 2.a. An impression of having seen or experienced something before

There has already been enough drama involved with tryouts; I can only imagine what the actual season will bring. The directions said be at High School at 3:00; no sooner, no later all week for practice. That in and of itself was enough to send me over the edge. DH wouldn't be home, I wouldn't be home, The Dude wouldn't be home, Activity Bus would be late. Don't know how on earth she was going to get to practice all week. So I wrote a note for her to ride the activity bus, be late, I would explain it to the coach why she was late. Problem solved. Not good enough for OC. She rode with another girl's dad from her school on Monday. OK, she's what I always encourage my students to be - a problem solver. Can't fault her for that. Tuesday, I get this frantic e-mail from OC's assistant principal (who also just happens to be a personal friend of ours...) explaining that yesterday's ride can't be Tuesday's ride because word word word word yadda yadda. OC doesn't know what on earth she's going to do. In the most concerned voice I could muster, I responded to his e-mail. "Dear Mr. Assistant Principal; let me understand this. You are in charge of discipline for over 1,200 students, interviewing teachers for next year, monitoring halls and restrooms for said students. And you're worried about how MY CHILD is getting to dance team??" That's what I love about living in a small town. His response was priceless: Yes, but, I realize how important and pressing to the social life and the phenomenon of gaining peer acceptance is to future high schoolers. And I must add that I would never do anything to hinder the display of god given talent. At this point, all I can do is laugh. So I tell him to let OC know I will get in touch with The Dude and see if he can bail us out ('scuse me, I mean pick her up). You'd better sit down if you're not already...I get a reply from the AP asking me if The Dude isn't supposed to be in TN, so HE WON'T BE ABLE TO DO IT. Rest assured, dear AP, The Dude, indeed saved the day.

Fast forward to last night (Thursday with tryouts on Friday). When she shares with me that she has to have black shorts and a plain white top for tryouts. AND she has to have baby powder for her shoes because they are the WRONG shoes and she will totally mess up if she doesn't have baby powder. Sorry, not my problem, OC. Then this morning, her daddy, DH, was oh, so happy when I shared with him that OC really didn't need him to pick her up at school and take her to tryouts, she had it handled. And imagine his surprise when I shared this news somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:00 - 3:20 AM when he was ready to leave for work. You see, he had rearranged his normal 6:30 - 2:30 schedule so he would be at OC's beckandcall.

Can you see it? Isn't the excitement about dance team just oozing from my post? I know you will be waiting with baited breath to see if this year's drama can possibly top last year's (I don't even want to think about that right now...)...

...to be continued.