My Little Girls

The first week I taught them, they were so shy, but they had so much fun. They just love dancing. And at the end of class, before she left, Kylie ran over and gave me a hug. It was so cute. That week, I fell in love with dancing all over again.

For Christmas, the same girl (Kylie) got me the cutest thing. It's a necklace that she made. It's a Book of Mormon that even opens up, and inside, she wrote "Good luck on your mission! CTR CTR." I wear it all the time, because I love it so much. You've probably seen it, too; I love showing it off to everyone.

When I got my call, I asked them all where they thought I was going to go. Every single one of them said Ireland. After I opened my call, they asked where it was that I was going. I told them North Carolina and they were all disappointed it wasn't Ireland. It was so funny. They love North Carolina, now, though, because. One girl says it's her favorite state, besides Florida.

One week, we were talking about Celtic Celebration. Megan asked if there would be hot dogs there. I was like, "What? Nope ..." But then, I told them I would send them something from North Carolina, since I wouldn't be able to be there. I told them I'd send candy or something. They protested and told me they wanted me to send them hot dogs, not candy. I told them I couldn't send hot dogs in the mail, that's gross. They wanted them anyways. It was hilarious.

One week, we were practicing our second step. We had just learned it and were going to try it with music. Fiona, one of the oldest and best dancers in the class started acting weird, so I went over to ask if she was okay. I was worried she'd hurt herself or something. When I asked if she was alright, she started crying, and couldn't stop. She told me, "I don't know the step," and it broke my heart. I walked through it again with them, and I tried to talk to her about it afterwards. She didn't want to talk about it, I think she was embarrassed she had started crying. We've been good friends ever since, though.

For Christmas, I got them all the Willow Tree Irish Dancer, because I want them to keep dancing forever. One girl, Cienna, gave me the cutest thank you note in the world. She told me in the note how much she loved dancing, that she practiced everyday, and that she loved me. It melted my heart to my toes. I love her. She is so tiny, and really shy. She loves reading, though, and so I gave her Ella Enchanted. That's my favorite book and she loved it. We would talk about it every week at dance until she finished it. The week I gave it to her, I was going to work right after dance. I waited for all the girls to be picked up and then started for work. Cienna, though, had just started walking instead of waiting for her parents to pick her up. I was driving along 126th when I saw her, this tiny girl, her nose in the book. It was so cute. I took her home, but it was still cute.

Every week that I teach them, I feel so blessed. I love them, each and every one, so much. I would go to the ends of the earth for any of them. I cannot wait until I have kids of my own that I can teach dance to. They say the funniest things and they all love dance so much. It's so fun to me to get to create the base for them, to tell them what Irish dancers do and how they walk on stage. It's so fun to watch them dance their steps and improve their leap 23's. I just love everything about it. It breaks my heart to think that I'll be leaving them soon, to another teacher. Luckily, we only have good teachers at ADC. It still breaks my heart, though, because their my little girls. I love them.