Ballet Moms

Each Wednesday I rush the girls home from school, feed them snack and slap their ballet gear on them before darting out the door to the ballet studio. It's in an old building downtown and what it lacks for in space it makes up for in character. You have to walk past the older girls in the upstairs studio and precariously descend the steep steps to the basement. At the bottom of the staircase you are plunged unceremoniously into the parent waiting room. At the time of afternoon that we arrive it is teeming with people. There aren't enough chairs and adults are tripping over shoes and ballet bags. The magazines are old and worn. It's always too hot and always too loud despite the copious e-mails from the ballet studio's secretary telling us to be otherwise.

As I sat there yesterday I realized that my 30 minutes there each week is pretty much the most interaction I ever have with other moms. There is the typical sizing up of each other at the beginning of the afternoon. We come in yoga pants and Shape-Ups. We come in work clothes with Blackberries in tow. We come in jeans with loose ponytails and frazzled nerves. I wish I could say my time with these other moms was quality interaction, but truth be told, we don't really talk "to" each other...mostly we talk "at" each other. We discuss safe topics such as the weather, the cost of tuition or the impending cookie fundraiser. In addition to our ballerinas, the majority of us are balancing a toddler or a tween, desperately trying to pass the time during class with board books or biology homework. I need to get to know these women better. What makes them tick? How do they balance everything? Or how do they cope with not being able to balance everything? If my instinct serves me correctly, I think we have a lot to teach one another.