Dancing, Driving, and Daughters

Dancing:

As you have read in earlier posts this week, I had the pleasure of taking my youngest to her first college dance auditions this week.  FSU on Wednesday, USF today.  The jury is still out on whether or not she will make the programs, but the experience was worth it (my words, not hers).  She didn't like the program at FSU, not the college, just the program.  Her personality doesn't seem like it would be a good fit for what they portray dancers to be in their program.  It was more about who you know, which is always a hard lesson for our kids, but a lesson, nonetheless.  It is a shame because she really wanted to go to FSU, but it doesn't look like she will choose their program if she is in fact chosen.  USF, not a contender, until today.  She loved it, go figure.  They actually let us watch the group auditions, so I was in dance mom heaven.  She felt at home (I hate that phrase, I want her at my home, forever) and I guess that is what we want for our babies, to feel at home when they are not home... Oh, I don't know, that sounds stupid, but it's a fact.  Home away from home.  We still have more auditions to go, so let's see where God places her.

Driving:

I drove, the whole time, listening to ONE DIRECTION.  What is a 17 year old doing obsessing over a boy band for goodness sakes?  I now know all the words to every single one of their songs and I think she thinks she is marrying Niall, but we haven't told him yet.  If that's the case, she should let him know, maybe he can drive her to the next round of auditions.  Maybe she won't have to go to college, he will just pay for her to dance on stage while he sings.  He might even be able to get her to learn how to drive and get her license so I can hang up my taxi sign forever.

Daughters:

I loved spending this week with her, it was amazing.  We laughed, we cried, we fought (of course we fought, it wouldn't be a mother/daughter trip without a good fight) and she told me some of her secrets.  She thinks they were secrets, so we will just go with that... We spent time with Big Miss on Sunday before we journeyed to auditions so I had a double dose of daughters this week, it was a good week.  I also got to see my goddaughter for the first time in 5 years, she was auditioning at both schools too and we didn't even know!  They had a great time with each other and are already planning to be roommates should they choose the same school.

This was a great week, I hope our drive home tomorrow is quick.  At least I will have One Direction to keep me company!

                 


Driving Through Town and Fighting for Freedom

Yesterday Little Miss and I started our road trip by stopping in Orlando for the night.  We met Big Miss for dinner to celebrate her 20th birthday, met her boyfriend (CUTE), and just hang out.  All was perfect and then Big Miss got home to her apartment with the roommates from hell.  This is going to be a doozie, so please hang in there.

Big Miss has two roommates who started off being her friend and then as the rule of three goes, she was thrown to the curb.  She is very mature for her age and doesn't feed into drama like most girls do, so that becomes a problem with other girls.  They try to get her to gossip and fight and all that other crap, but she doesn't do it.  She has already lived on her own for a year, these girls stayed home their first 2 years and moved out for their junior/senior years.  That being said, they still live as if mommy and daddy are home with them and try to parent my child, often.

Imagine coming home to post-it notes on the AC because you have lowered it when you had a fever the night before, but the post-it note states in order to save electricity you can't do this.  Or.... you press a sandwich in the George Forman grill and don't clean it to someone else's expectations, so a post-it note states you need to do a better job (then the grill is removed from the kitchen and hidden so you can't use it).  Then you don't place the sponge in the sponge holder and someone tells you that it HAS to go back into the holder because that is the way it was done in their house. You get the point.

Last night after dinner, she comes home to one of the mother of one of them who drove all the way here to make sure her daughter gets some rest because my daughter is keeping them up all night with the her study groups, her boyfriend, flushing the toilet, brushing her hair, and breathing.  This woman screamed at my daughter at 1 a.m. and followed her around the apartment while my daughter was trying to escape.  She didn't call me because she was afraid I would leave my hotel and start a fight.  I can tell you that she was right! So, my daughter slept downstairs in her boyfriend's apartment (some battles are not the point right now, lol).  Well, she didn't sleep, she cried all night and then went to work at 6 this morning.

Needless to say, I spoke to said mother and she wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise, so I ended up losing my cool and yelled and then called her a name and then told her that the apple didn't fall far from the tree and she should be proud of raising a (same name) and then I hung up on her.  I was wrong, but it felt so good.  I also told her that my daughter will be moving out, along with the 4th girl that they treat like crap, so good luck and good riddance.  This news scared the lady because I also said I hope the 2 new roommates aren't serial killers.  She said that wasn't necessary, she didn't want anyone to move.  Oh, well too little too late.

So that is my awful story about the beginning of what is supposed to be a perfect dancing audition trip.  What would you do?


Auditions Are Here

How has all of this time gone by?  I haven't posted since September!  What a bad blogger (busy is more like it).  

I am sitting in the first of our hotels this week, as I am driving my youngest across Florida for her dance auditions at 2 colleges.  The timing of the auditions fall at opposite ends of this week, so we had to take the whole week off (can you hear my sadness) from school.  My principal is awesome and sent me off with her blessing and said "family first, Janine!".  So our journey began this morning and we stopped in Orlando.  We get to meet the "boy" who has stolen my oldest daughter's heart tonight, so that should make for a sweet dinner.  We will also be celebrating an early 20th birthday (not mine, hers, but I know you were thinking I was a child bride), which is bittersweet, to say the least.

Tomorrow we are off to Tally for audition number one on Tuesday and then off to Tampa for audition number two on Friday.  So please keep us in your prayers and I will try to post throughout the week as it might be the only way for me to keep the tears at bay.  My babies are moving on and I am standing still at the side of the road watching them.  It is not easy now, it won't be easy later, it may never be easy again.