07 May An Early Mother’s Day Gift

By Anna M.A. Stracey

Naomi, my daughter, started walking when she was 10 months old. She began dancing at 18 months. She loved to twirl to the Nutcracker, loved to watch ballerinas on television. Naomi went to ballet class for the first time when she was two years old. She watched for two weeks—but would not dance. She was concentrating; once she understood and was comfortable, then she danced.

Her Oma took her to see the Nutcracker that year. “She’s too young! She won’t enjoy the ballet,” friends said to her. Naomi sat and watched, intensely concentrating, for the entire production. She and her Oma went to the ballet together every year thereafter—well, until the great interruption of 2020.

A year of global pandemic has meant limited movement and a temporary halt to familiar activities.

Several years ago, Naomi began to dance and perform with a circus school. She was supposed to perform in April of 2020, but the performance was cancelled along with so many other activities. No circus, no performance, no movement.

The pandemic has been upon us for more than a year now. When we were invited to see an outdoor production of Cinderella performed by the Tampa City Ballet, we jumped on it.

To experience the music and dance under the stars on the warm Spring evening was divine.

The theater was a parking lot, the stage a makeshift pad on the street. A caterpillar crawled across my purse. Naomi flicked it off. “I don’t think I want to stay for the whole thing,” she said to me. “We’ll talk about it at intermission,” I said.

Then the performance started. Dancers took the stage, not wearing tutus and frilly skirts, but street clothing and futuristic uniforms. As the story unfolded Naomi pulled her chair into the aisle to get a better look.

Now they were representing the seasons, dressed in multi-color outfits—yellow, red, green, blue—vivid flowers dancing across the stage.

Intermission came. “Do you still want to leave?” I asked her. “No way,” she responded. “Can I buy a snack?”

We watched the rest of the performance with great joy—together, with a group of people. Watching the ballet dancers create a beautiful fantasy land on stage and absorbing us, the audience, into it, allowed us all to imagine and time when dance and movement can be part of our lives once again.

The next day a television show began playing a song from the Nutcracker. “Mom! Remember this song?!? It was my favorite when I was little,” she shrieked.

She jumped from her chair and began pirouetting around the living room. She grabbed my hands to dance—and, for a moment, we were transported to a different moment in time.

And there’s no better gift I could imagine for Mother’s Day.

For more HERStory information, check out our Facebook Page and LinkedIn Page and subscribe to our newsletter below.

We want to hear your story. Your story is my story. Help us empower other women by sharing your story.

Anna Stracey is an educator, grant writer and compassionate human being. Born in Toronto, Canada, she received her Master’s degree in Global Sustainability from the University of South Florida and now lives in Florida, where she dedicates her time to caring for her daughter and trying to make the world a better place for all people.