"Peanuts's" are gross.

This year for my birthday, Mom took Teagan and me to see "The Nutcracker Ballet."  It was a special mother-daughter day.  I hadn't seen The Nutcracker since I was in Junior High.  I remember getting all dressd up and going to see it with my Mom and Grandma as well.  The lights, the costumes, the giant theater, the larger than life music and the eloquent dancing was all so captivating!

This was Teagan's first official ballet.  A momentous occassion that required us to get all dressed up.  We had great seats too and they even provide boosters for the kid's seats!  As we were sitting there waiting for the lights to dim and the curtain to go up Teagan informed me that "the people behind the stage were going to have to move that curtain thingy so that the ballerina would have room to dance.  What are they thinking?"

The set design and the costumes were indeed impressive and inspiring. - Well, to me anyway.  Teagan had other ideas about the boy dancers and their not so "modest" attire.  As soon as the first male dancer began his solo Teagan felt compelled to report her "issues" with their tights in a not so quiet whisper. 
"MOM! (tugging on my shirt with disgust)  Are they wearing tights?!!!!!!"

Seeing where this conversation was headed, I tried to ease her concern.  "Well, their not tights exactly, they're men's ballet pants that they need to wear to be able to dance so freely... but they look alot like tights though, huh?"

"Yeah!  Boys are NOT supposed to wear tights!  Boys have to be modest too, MOM!  That is not responsible of them!  You can see their p*#@^!"  Insert big sigh and humph accompanied by rolling eyes and gritted teeth here!

"Okay, Teagan, let's just be quiet and watch.  There are other people here that can hear you and they'd like to watch the performance quietly."

Well, we made it to the intermission without much fidgeting and further anatomical commentary.  I felt there was hope for the second Act after a refreshing snack and potty break. 

I was wrong.  She spent most of the second Act facing me or turned around in her seat.  I asked why she stopped watching and all she could do was look at me upset and said, "I can't watch the boys, their p*#@^'s are gross!"   Insert another big argh and sigh here this time complete with raised hand expressions of more disgust.
I understand how distracting it was and is and there was little I could do to encourage her to not notice and not worry about it.  She didn't want to look through the binoculars that I brought anymore either.  She asked me to tell her when the boys were done and she could turn around to see the girls dancing.  I happily and somewhat proudy obliged.

Despite her "Disgust" of certain show features, amazingly she was paying attention to every little dancing detail down to the pointing of the toes and the extended finger with the arm extensions.  She's been dressing up in her ballet garb every day since dancing for me and showing me all these new and often impressive moves that she's imitating.

The next day at church she was relaying her experience to Aunt Sarah.  Sarah reports the following from the encounter:
"How was the ballet Teagan?!" Sarah asked not knowing what would come of her innocent inquisition.
Teagan poignantly and rather loudly projected:  "The boys wore tights and their peanuts's were gross!"
Sarah tried to reason with her, as only Sarah can:  "Well, when you're married, you may not think their so gross."
Teagan looked at Sarah rather stunned and apprehensive as she asked:  "Do husbands wear tights too?!"

Ahhhh, the childhood human experience.  What a journey.
Looking back, I am proud of her for watching everything, even a ballet, with God's eyes and choosing to decipher right from wrong even in what we would think to be the most innocent of situations.  I prayed that the men in tights wouldn't be the only thing that she remembered and thankfully it wasn't.

Thank you God for the ladies in my life, young and older and the special memories we're creating.  Thank you Grammie for the very special day and all the gigles and laughs and photographs.