Giselle, Mono, a Certificate and our 25th Anniversary

So much has happened in the last few weeks. First, we continued the endless illness in our family. I think this has been the sickest year our family has ever experienced. May found me sick once again with whatever the sweet little guy for whom I am a nanny. He and I were both a mess for more than a week. It felt significantly worse than when I had COVID. Then our cat Eve got a very high fever that resulted in an ER visit, two hospital stays and lots of IV treatments. She didn't have any of the viruses for which they tested her, and the vets finally declared it was a fever of unknown origin. While she was struggling for more than a week, my husband fell ill. His energy had been poor for a few weeks and then he got a terrible cough, high fever and pink eye. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and mononucleosis. Now, I wonder if the cat and I also had mono since it can show up as a high fever in cats. Who knows? My husband is still struggling with a cough, but otherwise we are all back to normal. It was a crazy ride. 

In the meantime, life goes on and is filled with blessings. Rebekah performed in Giselle. There were three performances. It was a beautiful and dark ballet about a peasant girl's ghost who attempts to protect her lover from the Queen of the Wilis as well as the other Wilis (angry female spirits). In two of the shows, Rebekah performed as Giselle's mother, which was mostly an acting role. She did a superb job. She also danced as a peasant girl as well as one of the Wilis. For the third performance, she had her most challenging role, that of Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis (Myrtha). This role is a coveted role on a dancer's resume, and Rebekah did an excellent job of it. 

Here are her pictures as Queen of the Wilis.

Here is the one photo we got of her as a peasant (with brown vest). I am still waiting for a photo of her in the role of mother. 

I am so glad that Rebekah found such a wonderful ballet school to dance with this year. The plan is for her to stay with them next year and continue to train. They give wonderful opportunities to perform. During the last few weeks, she also performed in a recital and the Amadeus Festival. 

Rebekah also completed step one of her Associate's Degree in Business. She is achieving her A.S.S. degree by building steps, so if she ever needs to stop, she will have a completed certificate or diploma at the end of each year. This will allow her to show a completed accomplishment instead of only saying she has some college on a resume. This system does require her to take a few additional courses, but seems like the right choice. We know that a ballet company might pick her up in the coming year or two, which would mean her college education would have to stop for that time being. 

This year she completed a Certificate in Retail Marketing with a 4.0 GPA.  We are very proud of her hard work.

She has already begun her summer course, Principles of Management. By the end of the coming school year, she hopes to have completed all the course work to achieve her diploma in Business Administration. Then the year after that, if all goes according to plan and she stays living in the local area, she will complete two Associate's Degrees, one in Business: Retail and Marketing and the second in Business Administration. 

Dear Husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this month. We had a lovely little get away at a brand new local hotel. It was absolutely charming. We ate in the hotel restaurant, had mocktails at the rooftop hotel bar, sat by the fire and pored over an eclectic stack of books in their library over breakfast. It was a lovely restorative 18 hours away from home. 

The rest of the family is doing well. Elijah is busy with work, expanding his friend group (which is a big deal for him with his social anxiety), keeping up with his normal activities and giving driving lessons another chance. Tim is dong tons of testing to try to get services that would follow him for life (even when we, his parents, are old and grey).  He has been on the "Needs Not Being Met" waiting list for 11 years. no kidding. 

There is so much more going on this month. My birthday is right around the corner, Father's Day, a small bathroom renovation reveal, working with my little guy and the true beginning of summer. I hope to get another post up at the tail end of the month. 

Blessings, Dawn