This weekend the little angel's dance class performed.  We got her all gussied up in her costume, complete with hat, and hauled her down in the heat for dress rehearsal.  Her class was called up first. It was chaos in the studio, 90 degrees outside and probably 100 degrees inside, with about 100 people gathered around to watch.  The little angel dutifully followed her classmates, but on the way to the center of the wood-floor studio, she slipped in her tap shoes and fell, hard.

She got back up, but once the music started, she looked at me, her face crumpling, huge tears rolling down her cheeks.  There was an audible gasp from the crowd -- she looked that sad.  After she stood there for about ten seconds with this expression while her classmates performed, I held out my arms and my little girl ran to me, curling into the fetal position in my lap and sobbing.  She was overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed. 

After her class's rehearsal was done, I sent her over to sit with her teacher and watch how the other girls did it.  I could see her loosening up during the rest of the hour-long rehearsal, and by the time the school went outside to perform for the public, she was ready to go.  She marched out onto the stage with her little co-horts. They all forgot about half of the dance, but when you're four or five, it doesn't really matter.  She even smiled part of the time.  I thought my heart would burst.

FweetieB and her husband brought their daughter, S., to watch.  The little angel was SO EXCITED her best friend could be there to see her dance. Afterward we watched the two of them hold hands over to where they rode the little train and the ponies.  I think S. inspired the little angel to try again, and the little angel got S. on a pony.  Watching them fuel each other's self-confidence was touching, and so was knowing the little angel has such good friends, and friends with parents who will make sacrifices to come and see us way out in the suburbs.  We so appreciate that, and I know no matter what happens to the little angel in her life, she will always benefit from learning to be a good friend and having others be a good friend to her from the tender age of one or two.

It does something to you, when you have good friends. It makes it easier to get up on stage or on a pony or into a new job or city or college or whatever you're trying to achieve.  Good friends give you courage the way nothing else in life can.  Knowing you have people who will still love you if you fail often guarantees YOU WILL NOT FAIL.
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Winner of the Picture Perfect and Mia Software contests up at Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews.