Good morning! Another new week is upon us which means another Monday Motivation post from me! I’m pretty chuffed with myself for sticking to these posts every week – they are the one constant on my blog at the moment whilst everything else happens whenever it can. I really want to commit to two posts a week and most weeks I can but just recently they have been a bit more sporadic, but more on that later.
I mentioned in last week’s Monday Motivation that Phoebe and I were off to the Ballet, Coppelia, with her theatre school. It was one of the best experiences we have had together and seeing her really truly enjoy and understand the ballet and, for the most part, sit still and watch it with wonder and delight filled me with so much joy.
I collected Phoebe and her friend Daisy from school and met Daisy’s mum and lots of other families at their usual dance venue to pick up the coach. We did a quick change of clothes in the car and ate our packed tea on the coach so that we had as much time as possible at the theatre before the show.
Once we arrived at the Birmingham Royal Ballet we were taken to a room upstairs where a lady from the costume department showed us lots of costumes from the show. It was fascinating to hear how the costumes are made and adapted and also that many of them are over 20 years old. When a costume gets old or tatty it is rarely remade, just mended and updated. The costumes were gorgeous and it surprised me just how heavy they were. Phoebe was thrilled to be able to hold some of the dresses and there were even some that they could try on! Phoebe loves ballet and is always trying to walk like she is wearing pointe shoes so when she spotted a real pair of pointe shoes to try on she made a beeline for them! It didn’t matter that they were far too big…she was hooked!
After the costume session, one of the company’s ballerinas Maureya Lebowitz came to talk to the students about her life as a ballerina and also did a make up demonstration. The children were enthralled and so excited to hear about the life of a real ballerina! After a quick toilet stop we were taken down to the theatre. We were taken past all the back stage areas including the cast changing areas which was fascinating! The show we were seeing was the final dress rehearsal. There were lots of press there watching the show but they were all sat in the circle…we pretty much had the stalls to ourselves! This was perfect for the little ones as it meant they didn’t have to sit totally still and silent and in the intervals they could run about and stretch their legs without worrying about disturbing others.
The ballet itself was just wonderful. It is a comic ballet and the dancers were just incredible! Some of the dancers were in costume and others weren’t which I thought actually made it more of an interesting experience and we were also able to hear the director giving corrections throughout the show which we were privileged to be part of.
Seeing all the children’s faces and their exclamations of wanting to be a ballerina made me think about the children’s dreams for the future and how important it is, as their parents, to do whatever we can to make their dreams come true. I’m not sure what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was Phoebe’s age and her dreams change daily. I remember her stating when she was about 3 that she wanted to be a bin man! Phoebe is so fearless and independent I am so excited to see what she chooses for her future. Whatever she wants to be I’ll do my utmost to make it happen (even if it’s a bin man!).
My own dreams for the future have changed so much over the last few years and if you’d told me 2 years ago that I would be working 2 days a week as a legal secretary and then spending the rest of my time trying to make it as a writer and influencer I would have probably laughed in your face! I’ve got a long way to go but this last few weeks I’ve been thinking about how this blog started and how much it has changed since I first launched it. The original reason for the blog was to go alongside my ‘gifts in a jar’ business. When it became apparent that this business was never going to work it seemed a bit late to change the name so I carried on with ‘For the love of jars’. However, the more I write and promote the blog the more I keep thinking how the name just doesn’t fit! Anyone coming to my site will probably expect to see lots of stuff about jars, and whilst there is the odd post it is definitely not the main focus for the site.
So…a name change is on the way! This is going to be a pretty big task and one that might take a few days but will probably take a few weeks! Fingers crossed I will be back here this time next week with a new name and a new look…but I’m not going to rush. Getting the site to where it is has taken a lot of hard work and I know changing the name is going to mean I have to take a few steps backwards. However, I definitely feel like it’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it! So here goes nothing!
See you on the other side!
Nicx
Leave a Reply