We had to set the alarm this morning.
Yes - I know it's Sunday, but we had to get a couple of loads of laundry done before heading into downtown St Paul for the Day of Irish Dance.
Amy's goddaughter is taking Irish step-dancing lessons with a local Irish dance school, and so we were off to watch her this morning.
The amazing part of the whole thing is that Norah is six. And she's only just beginning to figure out this 'dancing' thing. As her mom declared last year, this kid is short on talent and long on cute.....seriously long on cute.
And as we were standing there, waiting for this kid to make her way onto the stage, I looked around at all the folks who showed up just to watch her:
Her mom (Amy's cousin) and dad and baby sister. Her (grandfather) Pappa Darreld. Amy and I. Amy's sister Andrea. Her uncle Mike. Her great aunt Alice. Her great aunt Patty and great uncle Dan. Patty and Dan's daughter Alicia (Amy's cousin) and her husband Andrew, along with their boys Emmet and Easton. Her great aunt Mary. And her great uncle Jim and great aunt Margaret (Amy's parents).
In other words, the kid had her own cheering section. We were all there to watch her. It didn't matter that she's only 6 and only just learning to dance. It didn't matter that she was on stage for all of about 5 minutes. It didn't matter that the place was so crowded that none of us got to sit down. It didn't matter that we had to pay $8 to park the car in the ramp. It didn't matter that we each had to pay $6 to get in the door. The only thing that mattered was watching that kid jump up and down in her adorable dancing costume and curly-hair wig.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Amy's people are good people, and I'm lucky to be counted among them.
And Happy Day of Green, Maureen. Cheers to you. Always. 9/20/13 - we know you'll be there.
