The Saturday before last, Abigail was in her first dance recital. Julie has already written her account of the recital, so I won't repeat the details here. We'd spent the weeks preceding with some extra rehearsals, and the week before had a dress rehearsal, which is the first time that the dancers themselves got to see what the recital would be like. I missed all of these because they took place during regular work hours. Although I could have taken off the time from work, I wanted to be surprised with the results, and Abigail seemed happy enough with that.

When Saturday night arrived, I felt a little bit like things had snuck up on me. As I was easing into my seat in the theater, I remembered performances of various kinds that I was involved in throughout the years. I've been to plenty of performances in my life, so it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. But this was the first time one of my kids was going to be on stage, and I was both nervous and curious at the same time. I'd been to the end of session classes and seen what Abigail's class had been up to. So I thought that I would have a pretty good idea of what I'd be seeing.

Turns out I was wrong. Abigail and her class were out in the middle of the dance floor all by themselves, and they were doing thing that were more sophisticated than what I had seen in class. They turned, they spun, and they moved across the stage without any adult supervision. Abigail's class was the youngest in the recital, and there was plenty of "cute" factor involved. But they did a very good job and looked like they were genuinely having a good time, which is the most important thing as far as I am concerned.

It was a special moment -- there she was; in costume, all made up, and very independently executing her dance moves. This was a milestone for her, and for Julie and I as parents. Her growing up is helping us to grow up as well, preparing us for the day when she will leave us and make her way into the world.

This weekend I discovered another drawback of gas mowers: The engine block gets hot. While checking to see if mulch was clogging the mower, I accidentally touched the engine block, leaving a nice burn on my arm: