I love spring performance season at the best of times, but this year it was absolutely amazing. Stella was killing it in Good News. Her solo opened the medley and it was fantastic. I would freak out every time. I never thought I would enjoy the country medley, but I ended up loving it. Now that she is in a touring group she had two medleys. The second one was Little Mermaid. Stella looked beautiful in her blue dress. The dresses were really fragile, but hers lasted through her tour (barely) so it all worked out.
The biggest news of this show was that for tour, there are often boys doing more than one group because they need more boys. (Each tour has two groups) So while the boys change they need what they call "Bridge Solos". Everyone is invited to audition for these solos. Stella decided early on that she wanted to audition. And when we got the music for the two songs she could try out for, there was one that was obviously so meant for her voice. It is called "Shy" and it is from the musical Once Upon a Mattress. She worked really hard getting ready for the audition and memorizing both songs. I've never seen her more terrified ever for anything. All she had to do was sing in front of their director Kim, who she is around all the time, but she was SO scared. Right before it was time to go in she was shaking and crying and I told her she did not have to do it. But she said she did. She had all these moves she was planning on doing, but she just froze and she couldn't move. But her voice spoke for itself, and when she was done Kim said "you have an amazing voice little lady."
When we finally got the email that announced the solos it was accompanied with a long explanation email for why certain choices were made. I wish Kim would just send out the list and be done with it but I did love this line from the long email: "For the USA/Good News Bridge Solos, I took my majority from the USA age bracket. I believe there is only one from Good News..total (the one knocked the song out of the park). And, the nature of the songs didn't call for many dancers so I didn't have room to involve everyone." Actually when I read it I assumed Stella didn't get it, since he said he only took one, but then I opened the list and there was her name! Little Stella got the solo for "Shy". I ran right over to her to tell her and I was SO excited, but I could tell she was freaked out. I'm sure the first thought was that Cali didn't get one, and then I really think that the first thing she thinks about is if people are going to wonder why she got a part. However, I really think this solo/duet was a big step in her confidence as a performer. She didn't do the duet at all of the home shows, but she did it three times and it was so fun all of the times.
Her first show was at the Valley Fair Mall on May 2. I was so excited for the beginning of all of the performances. It is my favorite time of the year. They were told to make fishy faces during Little Mermaid and Stella and I were laughing at her fish face so we made sure to document it after the show.
Hands down my favorite performance this year was on May 10th at Gateway Mall. My aunt and uncle Jim and Chris were in town so we met them for dinner at Rio Grande before the show. We had no idea at all that Stella was supposed to sing her duet at this performance. We also didn't know she was supposed to be there an hour earlier for said performance. So Francine was texting me asking if we were planning on it, and then she was texting asking where we were. So I called her and she said she needed to be there NOW. So thankfully we were so close and we could just run right over there and get Stella there in time to sing. She and Sienna had only had one vocal rehearsal and had yet to learn any choreography so I was not expecting how well they did. Holy Cow was this mommy proud of her little baby. Oh man her voice! Her and Sienna sounded great together and even without dance moves it was a great performance.
It was the anniversary of the Golden Spike in Utah so there was a bit of a train celebration. There were some folks with a little train you could ride and so obviously we did and it was great. It was a chilly night for May, but watching the kiddos perform was worth it. My Aunt Chris is really talented with music and she was really impressed with Stella's voice. It is good to hear those things because as her mom, I don't know how objective I am most of the time.
The first time Stella performed her bridge solo as scheduled was on May 23rd. The performance was supposed to be outside somewhere, but because of bad weather it was moved inside to the South Towne Mall. I was focusing on video taping it properly and was also pretty distracted by how amazing my daughter is on stage. After this show we went to Texas Roadhouse and we ended up sitting next to the family of the girl Stella sings with. It was a fun night.
There was one more performance and then it was time for the final concert. They only sang one medley, the country medley. But Stella got a special honor and was asked to be one of the singer's of the finale song. It is usually a solo, but at the final show it is one singer from each performing group. So it is a big deal to be asked.
Unfortunately that was the day of our very serious and scary car accident on the freeway. We were rear ended by a hit and run driver while we were heading home from her dress rehearsal. It was honestly the scariest moment of my life and the real possibility that we were going to either die or get seriously injured was all I thought about through the whole thing. Amazingly, thanks to our angels we walked away without being hurt at all. So that night Stella made it back to the school to perform. My dad and Brent took Stella earlier and then Vivi and I came later in the show in time to watch her group. I just sat alone in the back and cried the entire time knowing how close I came that day to losing my girl. I'm so thankful the Lord protected us both. And I am so thankful that He trusts me to be the mom to this beautiful soul and her amazing voice.
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