Bit of an Oversight

You know how the things you worry about often turn out to be the wrong things to worry about? 

This past week-end was Eve's dance recital (on Sunday) and the dress rehearsal (on Saturday) downtown at the NAC, the same days as the Ottawa Race Weekend. There were going to be multiple street closures and tons of people. I was worried we wouldn't be able to get to the NAC, that we wouldn't be able to find parking, that we would be late (and soaking wet, since it was supposed to pour rain all day both days). Eve was worried that she was going to screw up in her duet. 

Angus had a baseball tournament. He was worried the game would be called on account of thunderstorms. If they did get to play, he was worried that he wasn't going to be able to throw strikes. Matt was worried that he wasn't going to make it back from the recital in time for Angus's game on Sunday (he's the head coach).

We were going to take the bus to the dress rehearsal, but in the end Patti's husband Oli drove us all downtown on Saturday, dropped us off close to the right door and went off to find a parking place. The rehearsal went fine - my brother-and-law and his girlfriend were visiting, so Matt and Angus took Jeremy to the baseball game and Laura came to the rehearsal with us. We put up signs and held props and talked and laughed (she's awesome - smart and funny and gorgeous, and trying to find a cure for malaria) and she got to watch Eve's dances even though no one was supposed to be allowed because Hannah took pity on her when she said she couldn't come to the show. 

The recital was fabulous. We couldn't get as close to the NAC because the marathon had more streets closed down, but Matt dropped us off and my mom and I and Eve walked a few blocks while he went and parked. It was different from the ballet and tap and Irish dance recitals - Hannah lets the kids do their own choreography and really doesn't interfere much at all. She told us that we had to suspend the urge to judge the dancing based on our usual criteria - which, it turns out, is really hard. But the things is, if some of the dancing is just little kids jumping around, the occasional flashes of genius are far above the rote steps you get at a more traditional recital. 

Patti's daughter Penny did a solo that was amazing. Eve and Maya's spider dance was really cute. For the last dance, Eve's class were colours in a painting, so there was a big canvas and one of the teachers painting, and the kids had layers of t-shirts on that they would peel off one by one behind the canvas and then dance around as different colours. At the end, they all burst through the canvas in tie-dyed and silver-glittered t-shirts. It was cool - I keep calling it the rainbow explosion, and Eve gets mad and says "It's called the HURRICANE of COLOUR, Mom!"

Angus's team won the tournament. Matt was a little late for the Sunday game, because although we made it downtown, they didn't want to let us leave - Eve was in the van with us, so there were multiple instances of aborted cursing as we ran into one blockaded route of escape after another. We finally thought we were clear and then some goddamned church group or ethnic faction or something had some goddamned festival that necessitated closing part of Fisher Avenue - let me tell you, if I had been able to figure out what was on that sign in what language I would be UNliking them on Facebook right now - but we eventually got home and he made it for the last few innings. 

Turns out what we SHOULD have been worrying about was whether or not Angus would walk down to the landing in the middle of the carpeted staircase at 8 p.m., just as we were all finally relaxing, and projectile vomit down the last six stairs, and then turn and try to run back upstairs and projectile vomit all up the first four stairs, before getting to the upstairs bathroom. Wouldn't you know it, I completely forgot to worry about that.