Will I ever learn to never say never?! As a general rule I don’t believe in absolutes like “never” or “always”. They don’t tend to hold up over time. Life and times change and some (most) absolutes tend to change as well. I should know I used to say I would never be a runner…ha.

I was pretty certain Sky would never be a dancer. I mean have you seen Dance Mom’s…no thank you! All the hair, makeup, and girly outfits…please no, just no. Based on some of the experiences some of my friends have had with body image issues and mean girls…nothing about dance lessons for Sky appealed to me, and I was confident in saying she would never take dance lessons.

When she stared dancing around the house, leaping, twirling, spinning, and asking for ballet outfits I just ignored it. Besides she is/we are busy with golf, soccer, swimming, biking, and you know life.

But, when a girl has her heart set on something it’s hard to ignore it. She was begging for dance lessons, and I kept putting her off until she took matters in her own hands….sort of.

She entered a coloring contest at a summer fair booth for one of the dance schools, and won the contest! Her reward was a month of free lessons. I still wasn’t sure how I was feeling about all this, but after meeting with the owner, talking about my hesitation, and what we hoped Sky could get out of it I felt so much better.

She’s in a tap/jazz/ballet class with 15 min of instruction in each type of dance. And, while Sky didn’t really want to do any performances she ended up in the class that has a number in the Nutcracker in Dec. So, we are practicing for that, getting fitted for costumes, and are going to see this dance thing through until then at least.

The smile on her face when she got to try her outfit on, and the fun she has at class…well it makes it all worth it! Hopefully at the very least she will gain some grace and elegance, and it will help with her balance.

The lesson here, that I apparently still need to learn, Never Say Never.