A Day at the Nutcracker

The Chattanooga Ballet puts on The Nutcracker every December, and for $4 per person school groups and other groups can attend a matinee during the week to see a condensed version of the ballet. In place of live orchestra recorded music is used, however, the length of 2 hours including an intermission is the perfect length for young children to stay entertained but still get the gist of the story and to hear lots of wonderful music.

When I was teaching elementary music the fifth graders used to attend a school performance every year. For about two weeks prior to their field trip I introduced and taught the music from The Nutcracker Suite to the students so they would be familiar with it when they went to see the show. I even got to attend it with them which was always a treat. Last year when Rebekah was four years old I took the opportunity to take her for the very first time. I spent some time introducing the music to her as well, and we danced a lot to the different selections of music. To this day, whenever we hear a selection of music from the suite Rebekah will recognize it from The Nutcracker.

Tuesday we had the opportunity to see a school performance for this year. My parents were keeping Joshua, and I had plans to make this a special date. Afterwards we would go out for lunch and then pick up Joshua for the afternoon. The morning started out a bit rough because Rebekah was so slow getting ready, but we made it in time.


Rebekah got to sit with one of her friends from church, and she hung out with her and her mom during intermission while I went to add money to the meter. As I headed to the van it was raining and cold. I didn't have my umbrella with me, so I walked briskly in my chunky heeled shoe. As I walked between two vehicles parked on the street I stepped into a low spot in the road filled with water, twisted my ankle, and landed on my left side. My entire left leg was drenched, and my left hand was bleeding below my thumb. I got up and went to pay the meter and took back coats and umbrellas, headed to the bathroom to clean up, and entered the auditorium for the second half after it had started. Of course, it was hard to enjoy this portion of the ballet when I was wet and cold.

Obviously, my accident dampened the rest of our day, and we were unable to go out for lunch. Instead, I picked up lunch and took it to my parents' to eat while my pants went in their dryer. My hand was hurting a lot, and I was afraid to put much pressure on it due to the pain, so I went to get x-rays on it. I would have to wait until the next morning to get the results back.

As the evening progressed my ankle felt like it had been twisted from the fall. Joshua was really fussy yesterday and had hardly eaten all day. He had a very, very low grade fever, and he began messing with one of his ears. Darrin and I decided it would be best to have his ears checked. While they were gone to the after-hours pediatric doctor's office my ankle continued to worsen until I could no longer walk on it. I was sure by this point it was sprained. I alternated cold and hot on it and tried to keep my foot propped up as much as possible.

The next morning I got the results back from the x-rays on my hand. It is not broken. However, my mom came over to help me yesterday with the kids and preparing lunch. I've borrowed her crutches and ace bandages and have been resting my foot. It is feeling a lot better, but it will take a while to heal. Rebekah thinks the crutches are really cool, and she likes to pretend she is walking with them with her arms over the handles.

I'm thankful to have my parents help me out during this time when it's so hard to do basic things. I hate being helpless like this. Hopefully I can start walking a little so the kids don't miss preschool again tomorrow. So for now I'll rest my foot and enjoy some extra snuggle time with the kids.

Rebekah even crawled up next to me the other day while I was propped on the couch, she put her hand on my belly, and she made up a song for her baby brother. I told her he could hear her sing, and she sang a sweet song about how much she loved him and how handsome he is. As she was singing he moved for her! It was such a neat moment.