An evening to remember

Tonight, Gillian and I had a girl's night out of just the two of us. I took her to see the Nutcracker ballet performed by the San Francisco Ballet assemble. We absolutely enjoyed it. Gillian was so excited to be with me, and she talked incessantly on our way there. When we got there she was so enchanted with the opera house, the souvenir shop, the hall, and above all with the idea that she was going to see the ballet live. I couldn't get enough of Gillian's excitement. Her purity and simplicity was true joy to me. She was dressed as the Snow Queen and she looked beautiful.


When the show started, she held on to my hand and would squeeze it when she liked something. I loved her comments throughout the evening. She would say "How very gracefully the Queen dances!" or "That Chinese dancer needs to slow down; he is too quick for my eyes," or "That Arabian dancer moves her body so easily,"or "That was just breathtaking!" We loved the music, the costumes, the creativity of the stage, and the choreography. However, I have to say, my favorite thing was being able to share this evening with my daughter. I enjoyed it more listening to her sharing her impressions with me throughout the production than the ballet itself. I'm so glad I was able to make such a special memory with my sweet Gillian.

After the ballet was over, we meandered a bit through out the Opera House, stopping first at the Souvenir shop. I told Gillian she could pick anything in the shop to have as a remembrance of our evening. She decided on a Christmas ornament. First, she chose a simple ballerina, and then she picked the fairy princess. I was just happy seeing her so enchanted with everything.


Afterward, we walked around outside seeing all the buildings decorated for Christmas. We were talking about the ballet, the music, the Christmas lights, as if we were two close friends. It felt good to see my daughter feel so comfortable with her mother.


She fell asleep on the way back, but woke up when we got home. She wanted to tell her father everything. We put her fairy princess up on the tree, and then I had my princess go to sleep. What a beautiful evening! I went to sleep happily myself knowing that there will many more of these kinds of evenings between my daughter and me.