Beautiful Evening

I've written about this before so if you're a regular reader, you may remember what "šluskolona" is. But in case you don't know I'll just say it's one of my favorite cultural events here in Czech! High school kids take dance lessons in the fall for about 10 weeks, have one ball halfway through, and then have the final one at the end of those weeks.

Last night was Claire's "šluskolona", the final event of her dance lessons. From the moment the 35 couples made the promenade into the cultural center, to the end of the evening...it was a beautiful event!!

Claire with her dear friends, Hayley and Lucy

And yes, I admit to a few tears throughout the night! When they danced a waltz to Doris Day's "Que Sera,Sera" and I heard the words, "When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what would I be..." it just took me back to when Claire was a little girl (not that I ever sang that song to her, or she ever asked the question!) - and now, seemingly in the blink of an eye, here she is a beautiful young woman.

She and her dance partner, Noah Ellenwood (one of our JV kids who attends high school with her here in Frydlant) danced nearly three hours...the jive, waltz, cha cha, polka, country dance, mazurka, valčik, tango, fox trot, and rock and roll.


During the presentation, moms and dads are "required" (I guess you could decline if you wanted but we didn't!) to participate with either their child or their child's partner.

Noah and I danced two dances together, with him leading me in steps I didn't know! As we danced it made me wish that I'd had this experience when I was in high school so I could learn all those great dances!!

After the official presentation is over, they open up the dance floor to everyone. Moms, dads, grandparents, siblings, friends...everyone takes to the floor and you can barely move around without running into someone! But it's so fun - we wouldn't miss out on it for the world!

This was one of those nights when I was so glad I get to live in Czech!

By the way, this week we celebrated 17 years of living here!