I’ve been on stage my entire life … well, since I was two years old. Dance recitals, beauty pageants, singing, color guard – you name it, I’ve done it. And, for the most part, I’ve done it pretty well. So, naturally, when I gave birth to a daughter, I assumed that she’d want to go down the same path. It’s genetic, right?
Sort of.
Piper is all-girl. 100% to the point of almost ridiculousness. If you checked her purse right now, you’d find a cell phone (she carries my old one), 8-9 tubes of lip gloss, and a Disney Princess camera … oh! and a dog. She’s my future celebutant. I L-O-V-E it.
A couple of weeks ago, my mom was visiting and took the kids to the mall. They were doing a model search. She said that they all watched for hours as child after child walked the runway, sang, danced, and smiled their way into a 1 year contract with an agency. Mom called to ask if she could sign my kids up … they really wanted to do it. Why not?
The call came on Monday. First for Avery. Then for Piper. I got all the info and was satisfied enough with what I heard to agree that they could do it.
When I arrived home that night, I reminded the kids of what they had seen and asked if they were interested. Avery wasn’t so sure. He really wanted to sing a solo … but this was just modeling. I convinced him to give it a shot, but he was never 100% sold. Piper IMMEDIATELY wanted to do it.
As the time grew closer, Avery never would practice his “walk”. Piper would only do it in front of me and always talked about how nervous she was. To know Piper, you would swear she wasn’t shy, but she’s actually the more naturally shy of my two kids.
We get to the mall and this is our experience ….
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynWepjH2y8[/youtube]
We’re not sure where Avery got the “elbow behind the head” thing … probably his way on ensuring that I never put him in this type of thing again. Piper did great. I could tell she was really nervous, but she later told me that she really enjoyed the lights and being up there “for real”. I have finally convinced her dad to let me enter her into a pageant, so I think this was a good first step for her. She’s always said “no” before and said that she’s too scared!
Piper advanced to the next round. They picked five kids from each age category (last night was 6 & under, and 7-12 years). Avery didn’t advance, but he didn’t even notice that his name wasn’t called. His head was buried in my iPhone playing a game. I doubt he would have been concerned.
Overall, it was a lot of fun and I’m certainly glad we did it. But, I’ll add that if I had a dime for every time Don looked at me and rolled his eyes, I’d be on a jet to the Caribbean right now! He was tolerant … but, well, I guess tolerant is the only word I can think of.
Piper’s career ended with her advancement. The next step was to pay $150 for a portfolio to be considered by an agency. I don’t think we’ll take up that scam. We’ll stop right there, thank you.
