Mommy-daughter time

S had her first day of Dance Camp today. The camp is 3 days a week, with various classes for ballet, tap, jaz, character (folk) and choreography, as well as pre-pointe. I think the pre-pointe is just stretching because the girls are so young, but she and her classmates are very excited about it. It marks a move toward the Big Time for them.

After work, I picked her up from dance & we had tea and coffee at the Tea Room before heading out to visit the camp she'll be going to later in the week. We got a tour from the very patient Camp Director, and hung out for about an hour and a half at the playground and walking along the creek. We also walked a prayer labyrinth - a narrow path in the dirt lined with rounded river stones that wraps around in a spiral not unlike this:




The idea, I believe, is to walk it while praying or meditating. It's not the kind of thing you dash through fast or skip over, but either response might be normal for an 8-ear old, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quietly and respectfully S. walked it.

I thought of the labyrinth as a metaphor for life. We think we're making no progress, because we double-back on ourselves as we go. But we are indeed moving from point A to point B. And when we think we're as far as we can go, we're not - but again, we must wind back and around to get to the end - only to find that there is no end, and we have to loop back yet again to the beginning once more - sometimes passing close to one another, sometimes far from one another - but on our own journey, if on a common road.

The last half of the walk, as we passed each other, we would reach out and brush our hands together. Kind of a meditative hi-five.

We drove the 45 minutes back to home, I napped (exhausted) on the couch for an hour - which S later claimed was "like, 2 hours" and then took her to her Math club - more of a games night than anything.

Some time in the evening, she said, "We should spend some mommy-daughter time together." I said, "Um. What was this afternoon, then?" I guess 4 hours in 8 years doesn't cut it. Especially if you nap. I'll work on that.