Tough Decisions

I awoke before the sun came up, eager to consult with my physician, Dr. ShadowRun, to see if I might possibly be able to run again.  It seems like my foot has been healing nicely, but after a short 5 minute test on the treadmill, I was given the thumbs down.  Hmph.  Now I gotta wait another week.

Hard to be too sad, however.  The weather here has been phenomenal.  After my non-labor Labor Day, I went back to work for one day before having another day off.  THIS day off has been very labor filled, but as I sit here now, I’m enjoying the bright sun shining through my dust free screens, and through my dog-nose-print-free windows and onto my freshly vacuumed and scrubbed floors.  The windows are open allowing a nice breeze through the house, along with the loud clicking of the cicadas.  Mercy!  I think they’ve taken over our neighborhood!

As annoying as they are, Mario’s dance teacher has been even more so.  In the last couple of weeks 3 of the 9 girls on the dance team have quit.  Suddenly Mario wasn’t as excited about the program as she once was, and I can’t blame her.  With only 6 girls they’ll never be able to compete with the other schools, and the cost of the program and the uniforms is so high, that we began to wonder if it was worth it for her to stay in.   On top of that, she was giving up Scholar Bowl to dance and would have had conflicts with the school play.

We talked about her options for a long while.  She expressed her concerns about quitting since she’d made the commitment already and because the other girls would really be in a predicament if she were to quit.  I offered to email her teacher to see if she thought the program would be worthwhile with only 6 people.

Her response was, “the team is down to 5 people now that Mario is out.”  Then a few seconds later, Mario received a FB notice that her teacher had posted another girl had quit.

I was floored.  Not once in my email did I state that she was quitting, yet she assumed the worst, and then made it public right away on FB!

I emailed her back,

Ms. Dance Teacher,

Perhaps you misunderstood my email.  I was just trying to get your opinion on the future of the dance program. However, I see that you’ve already made the assumption that she has quit, so perhaps it’s best if Mario focuses her efforts on Scholar Bowl and the play.  These activities seem to be more suited to her interests and abilities.

Sincerely,

ShadowRun

She replied with the answer I was looking for the first time around, but a little to late in my opinion.  Mario had the push she needed to quit and move on to activities she’s more interested in.

We’ve never condoned quitting after a commitment has been made, but in this situation, I feel we made the right move.  I’m shocked that her dance teacher is being so immature, even to the point where she’s making Mario apologize to the other girls on the team.  (None of the other ‘quitters’ have been asked to do so.)  Mario feels bad enough as it is, and was only going to stay because of those girls, but for her to be ASKED to apologize and ONLY her, makes it seem like she’s being punished.

I can only hope that Amp, who has her as an English teacher, isn’t being punished too.  Lord knows, he doesn’t need any more obstacles to get in the way of him passing.  He’s got plenty of his own.

The relief we feel now that the decision has been made outweighs the guilt we feel about her quitting.  She came home from Scholar Bowl today pumped about her teacher and their team.  Tomorrow she’ll try out for the school play, and I know she’ll absolutely love that!  She’s learned dance isn’t her thing, and I’m quite confident she understands that her quitting the dance team has some repercussions, but her own happiness in high school is just as important.