A First Time for Everything

Ahhhh, firsts....can you remember some of your monumental "first-time" experiences? Are they a source of pain or joy? Pride or embarrassment? Laughter or tears?

One of the cool things about being a parent is watching your kids go through these firsts. Kellie-Laine was recently invited to a Disco birthday party complete with professional DJ. Sounds fun, right? Well, once she realized that BOYS were going to be there, too, her joy quickly turned to pain. "How am I supposed to dance? I don't know how to dance!" was her response. "What if a boy asks me to dance??" was another source of pain (as well as ours.)

Cody and I quickly came to her rescue and performed our best dance moves from college. "See, it's easy!" I said as I snapped my fingers and bounced in place. "Nothing too it," chimed in Cody as he demonstrated his famous bob-and-weave-white-boy-style maneuver. Kellie-Laine gave us one look and screamed at the top of her lungs. "I'm not going," she said. Apparently, we were not helping.

All week long we prepared and worried and fretted and deliberated over every scenario the dance might bring. Was she allowed to dance with boys, she asked? "NO" was the reply. Were Cody and I going to stay at the party? "Yes" was the reply. It is, after all, our goal to embarrass the child as much as possible. It was pure agony and high drama...very typical for a 6th grader.

Finally, the day of the dance arrived. KL and Phoebe spent an hour and a half getting ready (did you miss that? AN HOUR AND A HALF). The clothes Phoebe brought were just not going to do, so the girls raided my closet trying to find the perfect outfit. KL sought Phoebe's opinion on her attire, and hers was the only opinion that mattered. After both girls found acceptable clothing....we moved on to hair. I tried my hardest to give KL a style that was flattering and fun, but all she saw was "baby-ish." I moved on to Phoebe....she had no opinion. "Do whatever you want" she said. Then, both girls re-did my "do." (I guess hair stylist is not a career option in my future....)

With the perfect outfit and the perfect hair in place, Cody and I headed to the dance with two very giggly, very nervous girls in the back of the truck. When we pulled into the parking lot, they started chanting, "take us home, take us home!" We got out with the girls and walked to the front doors as Justin Timberlake's, "Sexy Back" was playing. "Take them home, take them home!" my brain was saying. No luck, the girls opened the doors and saw...........GIRLS on one side of the room in a huddle and BOYS on the other side of the room in a huddle. There was an invisible wall that kept the two species from interacting. The girls were shocked, and overdressed (or so they thought), and disappointed, and relieved. All the hype...all the preparation...was for naught.

Cody and I bobbed and weaved our way to the dance floor at the DJ's prompting. That was the only time during the course of the night that the kids actually danced. The rest of the night was spent playing with an oversized ball, running to the bathroom in groups, eating and making fun of the boys who were trying out dance moves they learned from their parents. It was exactly like Cody and I imagined it would be....and NOTHING like the girls imagined it would be.

It was the best of times....it was the worst of times. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. In the end, it was neat to experience this "first" with Kellie-Laine. There are many more to come, and I hope she finds security in the fact that Cody and I are here to help her bob-and-weave through each one of them.