Cinderella Sweetheart Open

Today, Tessa competed in the Cinderella Pageant's Sweetheart Open.

We left Glendale at 8:00am to make it in time

for check in at 9:15. It was held at a former middle school, converted to a church called Centerstage Church.

We were a couple minutes early and so we made our way to the dressing room to get sorted. The pageant was held in

what used to be the gym. Easy enough...right?

Ok, it was dark in the gym when we arrived, the girl who showed us to the dressing room said, "I think they will turn the lights on soon..." Okay.

We plugged in Tessa's straightening iron and were really thankful we had already done her hair at home. Because the outlets in the dressing room did not work. NONE of them.

Fortunately, curls were never in our plans and we were only thinking about touching up her hair. Other people were not so lucky...there were extension cords and surge protectors everywhere.

Since the lights weren't even on when we got there, I figured the heat would also eventually be turned on...nope. Wrong again. It was really cold. Refrigerator cold. The ENTIRE pageant. "Its just so expensive to turn on the heat."

Oh my...at least give us a head's up...right? Something like Come to the Cinderella Sweetheart Open...and bring your Sweetheart to snuggle with 'cause its gonna be COLD.

Through all of this, Tessa was a total trooper. She made friends with the other girls in her age group. They giggled and ran around together. They even hugged and high-fived during awards.

No, She didn't win the title for her age group, but she won "best talent" for her age group. And trust me, her competition was not easy. It wasn't just acrobatic dance, it was really good acrobatic dance. But she also did really well in her modeling and introduction. That kid positively lights up a stage. She carries herself really well and her talent...well...I have seen Irish dancing in pageants before, executed both well and badly...and Tessa pulls it off with a lot of grace. She isn't just a champion Irish dancer, she mixes it with a sort of magic that I can only call Tessa.

She had a really good time. She feels really good about herself. And really, I did not mind sitting in a refrigerator to cheer her on. I got NO good video because I was shivering. (Sven pointed that out when I tried to share the video I took with him) But I had a few good laughs

about it with the other moms.

Later this week, I will get the judge's comments and we will find out if her rogue bra strap in casual wear did her in...or perhaps her choice of red dress when it SEEMED that all the other girls were wearing white...

I always enjoy doing pageants with Tessa. I really love being her support. Not her teacher, her Mom. Her biggest fan. The one who picks up her shoes and makes sure her next outfit is where it needs to be. I fix her make-up and her hair and we laugh when I accidentally poke her in the eye with the mascara wand. I like how Tessa responds to me at these events. She looks at me as though she likes me, almost like she is proud of me. I get to be the cool, goofy, mom that doesn't freak out over everything. We watch the other moms do enough of that for everyone.

And because it is so very different from Irish Dance, its almost what you might call chill. Pageants are almost stress-free for us. Its weird. In a life that we share that has always been anything but normal. Its odd to say that these moments are the closest thing to normal that we have, and I find that exceptional.