“What do I think I’m doing?!” is usually the first question I ask myself when the going gets tough. ‘Tough’ is a relative term and by the reaction of every smiling face I passed you’d think I was on my way to be knighted. That’s where the question came from… from one of those smiling faces in the crowd.

“Did you really bring four kids to the ballet all by yourself?” her tone was disbelief mixed with horror. Her tact knew no bounds as she continued. “Are they really all yours?!” as if anyone in their right mind would drag a ‘large’ group of age ten and under kids to a ballet if they didn’t belong to them.

“We can hope.” Was my curt reply, then I hurried the children on to our seats. I’m not sure what the biggest headline is, that I took the kids to the ballet, that they loved it, or that they behaved through the two and a half hours.

The ballet was Sleeping Beauty, and it was pretty incredible. My oldest sat quietly as though in thought. My second oldest asked hushed questions and really got into it, and the girls could barely contain their excited claps to the spaces between dances!

My favorite part was the children’s reaction to fancy ballet moves or sudden changes in what’s on stage. If it were just the chamber orchestra it would have been worth it to me, as it was more than that, I can under exaggerate by saying simply that it was great!