Going En Pointe and Girl Scouts

After writing about my "boy" Walt, I have to write about another watershed event that happened this week. (Which is most likely why I am lazing about this weekend) Did I mention that I have been serving off and on for a few years as a Girl Scout Leader? You realize of course that you don't HAVE to be a mother to be a leader. The Girl Scouts are so desperate for decent women to lead that they will accept women's references who check out (like mine) who can't and won't camp. Yes, yes, I know. It is probably un-American. I hate camping. Plus I am put-together things challenged. I volunteered under the condition that I ended up with a non tomboy, camping out hating bunch of Daisies/Brownies/Girl Scouts. Well......hooah......there was such a troop.

I've watched my girls grow through the ranks learning culture, sleepovers (in a Winnebago-ish setting), cooking, community service, etc. All of my girls are darling, but there is a pretty special one - Belle. She is the same age as the rest of the girls - yet very innocent, sweet and joyful. She has attached herself to me like a sweet piece of saltwater taffy.

Turns out Miss Belle's first love is the ballet. She's been taking ballet since she was 4 and now she's 12. She works very very hard. Unfortunately, I don't know much about ballet at all and even the French I remember from high school and college flies out the window when she talks about positions.

At any rate, she saw me this week and showed me a special letter from the head of her ballet school. She was "advanced" and invited to go "en pointe"( i.e. dance on toe shoes). She was quite exhilarated. She was a bit down because her mother works quite alot and she wanted to get her shoes. She asked me if I might be able to take her. I checked with her mom, said I'd take pictures, and so I picked her up Friday after school and off we went in search of the perfect fit. I was quite nervous. Thank God the ballet place they sent us had experts. They warned me that it might take an hour to find the right shoes. I've never seen so many shoes that looked so different and yet were the same color and the same thing! I took pictures of her standing in assorted shoes. I was a tiny bit ......distracted.....until I looked up into her eyes as she went up in THE shoes....right on her toes. Her face was awash in total joy. She was beaming. I think I captured it with my camera but it was like something from a movie. It was almost as though light was emanating around and through her. We got her shoes and all the necessary things to go with them.....it was a windfall for me to get to be there on her special day.