Ballerina

Before school went on midterm break, I had visited my daughter's school to drop her lunch as I didn't make it early enough for her to take it with her in the early hours of the morning.

"Mommy Chidera, can I please get a moment of your time?" The proprietress called out from her office adjacent to my daughter's classroom. I was running late for work, so I quickly checked my phone for the time and saw that I could squeeze out some few minutes to listen to whatever she had to say. Being that it's about my daughter most definitely, I was really interested to listen.

"Hello, good morning again". She greeted me flashing a smile and then continued, "Please hope the food you brought is not noodles? Because of the last noodles you brought, Chidera complained bitterly to me that she didn't like it and when I checked, I saw she didn't finish it."

"Oh, yeah she told me too, I also saw she didn't exhaust her noodles and when I asked her why? She said because the noodles had expired."

"Expired?" The proprietress questioned with bulging eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Yes expired," I reaffirmed, then continued, "I asked her what she meant by expired and she said the noodles got cold hence it's no longer sweet."

"Children of nowadays," the proprietress burst into laughter and continued again, "if the noodles are getting cold then definitely the food flask is the problem. Maybe you should change it and get a new one?" The proprietress suggested.

"Oh yes, I had considered that and seriously worked towards it."

At that moment it occured to me to make further enquiries to be sure when my daughter's mid term break would commence and also, I thought it was a good time to know the school's vacation date and end of year party since we would be travelling for a religious seminar around that period.

I brought everything to the proprietress notice and quite unfortunately, the end of year party was colliding with our travel. Right there, I made the decision that my daughter will not be attending the party. A decision that the proprietress quickly kicked against, making me forget that the time was against me for work. While I got oblivious of the time, the proprietress and I debated our points for and against my daughter being part of the school's end of year party.

"It will be quite unfair that after all the practices for her ballet recital, Chidera would not get to perform. You need to see the efforts she puts into it, you can't deny her the opportunity of showcasing all that she has practiced". Immediately the proprietress brought up these points. I was mute. If there's one thing I have always done is to support my daughter in anything not detrimental that makes her happy. I was quiet for a while then the proprietress questioned, "where will you people be travelling to, when and what time?"

"That should be on the 13th of December, we would be going to Port Harcourt and we had planned to travel by early hours of the morning."

"But Portharcourt is not far, how about we push her performance a little further and wrap up the event quickly, say by 1pm? That way you all can travel at say 2pm and still get there before night fall". I got mute again and all the time I didn't say a word, I was seriously considering all what she had said. Truly, Port Harcourt is a three hour drive and surely her suggestions are doable. Seeing how she's willing to go extra for my daughter, I succumbed.

"Ok, so long the program ends before 2pm Chidera would attend." Like a child, the proprietress leaped with excitement and thanked me for considering her suggestions. Seeing how Late I was for work, I dashed out of the school premises and walked briskly to the junction, running lightly in-between to catch up with a tricycle.

I got to work and after settling in, I called my mom to inform her about the change in time of our trip. I explained the circumstances surrounding the change and she wasn't too happy. My mom is an early bird, she likes to go early for everything that calls for it. She reluctantly agreed but little did I know that she has her own plans.

---

---

School runs are usually done by my mom, so she used the opportunity of picking my daughter up from school, to discuss with the proprietress. Unlike me, my mother likes to take advantage of every situation and have things done her way. I do not know how far her discussion was with the proprietress but imagine my shock when I got home and she was telling me that the proprietress agreed to shift the end of year party from Friday to Thursday so my daughter gets to perform and we get to also travel early hours of the morning the following day.

It was good news alright and as the day drew closer, I bump into my daughter every now and then practicing for her recitals. Then one evening, about a few days before her school party, my daughter came to my side and asked to speak with me. I granted her audience, immediately putting a hold on the activities I was having on my phone.

"Is everything ok baby?" I had inquired drawing her closer to my arm in a side embrace.

"Yes mommy, everything is fine. I am just wondering if you would come watch me perform."

I looked at her as she wore the puppy eyes, pouting her lips, with both her hands rubbed against each other while chorusing "mommy please make out time to come watch me dance...."

For a moment there, I got emotional because I never planned on attending her school party. I just felt oh well, my mom would attend it. I never knew that it would matter to my daughter who attends. Long story short, she made me promise to show up and it was clear if I do not attend, there will be trouble.

---

---

The day for the event finally came and it was really quite a distance plus stressful for me coming all the way from my office to attend and then go back to my office again.

I had rushed down to the office to tidy up some work, informed my colleague of my daughter's party and asked him to cover up for me. Knowing my daughter's performance would be amongst the first on the program, I raced down.

Program started by 10am, I left my office by 10:05am and got to the event by exactly 11:00 am. I was overwhelmed, drenched in sweat as it was hot and I had run a little.

I panicked and I prayed for me not to miss my daughter's performance. Luckily, as I arrived at the premises of the event, my daughter and her group just got called on to the stage. I quickly rushed to a seat at the front and my daughter's teacher won't let me hear the last of it, of how lucky my daughter is that I made it on time.

It was then I even noticed that she was also on the look out for me because the moment she saw me come in from the gate, she heaved a sigh of relief. She also went further to tell me how my daughter kept pestering her if I had arrived yet and how my daughter was close to tears anytime she said no.

I really can't explain exactly what I felt but I felt like a super mom not letting my daughter down. I sat for a few seconds watching my daughter from a distance, she hadn't seen me yet and I was just trying to catch my breath from all the running and brisk walking to beat time. The moment the song came up, I stood up from my chair to make a video.

Guys, you need to see how excited my daughter was to see me. I saw her mood go from low to high in split seconds. She adjusted herself and I saw her ready to give the performance her best shot.

Ps
All images are mine