What Liddy saw.

The Ditzy one is whirling & spinning faster than usual & my Saturday has been complicated. I mean it's Saturday, right? No~one goes to work. Wrong. The phone began ringing before it was light this morning dragging the workers from their slumber. First it was Dino's boss wanting him just for an hour or so. I don't even know when he came in last night so I'm sure he wasn't madly impressed. Then it was Liddy's work. Two people out sick. They were short~staffed & catering for a wedding on top of their usual Saturday morning rush. She went in for 4 hours & then came to the mainland with Ditz & I.

Liddy had considered a movie but I hadn't planned for Liddy so didn't have a lot of time for her to dither & make up her mind. I pulled into the movie theatre, she rushed in to check what was on, decided it wasn't worth it, hopped back in the car & I tuned out Ditz's frantic pleas to get a move on. With Liddy now in tow there was no way I was going to be allowed to doze peacefully at the back of the hall while Ditz rehearsed. No siree! I was dragged hither & thither because, Liddy was free & joy of joys, I had the car! Yes. Well. Frankly there are few places more boring than a sports store & there is nowhere Liddy likes better. She got herself a new ball, badly needed. She's been using Ditz's but Ditz bought hers for it's pretty colour rather than for actual use ...do I really need to say any more?

On to Big W. Liddy wanted trackies. What we actually bought was 2 shirts for Ditz. Ditz has reached the impossible to buy for stage & the last thing she said to us when we threw her out of the car was, 'Don't buy anything for me without me!' She had to be joking! It is so much easier to buy for her when I don't actually have her hissing constantly that she wouldn't wear this, that, or the other thing in a pink fit. Unfortunately everything she owns is rapidly becoming too small, too tight & much too revealing ~ far too revealing to be worn out in public so she has been raiding Liddy's closet because Liddy owns more clothes than she can possibly wear & Ditz can now fit into all of them. The cat fights this causes! I think Ditz actually likes both items. One is a short sleeved grey hoodie with colourful music notes emblazoned all over it. Very Ditzy Liddy & I agreed. The other is a black T with diagonal rainbow stripes. Very colourful & showy ~ & they are both extra long!!!

Back to the rehearsal. This was the first time Liddy had seen the ensemble in any shape or form. There was a very expressive silence then Liddy said, 'Awful lot of show ponies in here.'

'Private schools,' said I. 'Money. Lots & lots of money.' Now Liddy knew this, I just don't think it had quite registered as to how much money this translated into. Her shock ( & dare I say disapproval) was palpable. I was rather amused. Liddy is not the one who has to deal with it week in & week out. Ditz is quite clue~y enough to explain she is in 'private school' too. More silence while the rehearsal began a complete run through then, 'They're a little over the top, don't you think?' Liddy asked, referring to Alison & Amanda. She was beginning to crack me up because Liddy is forthright & down to earth & Ditz doing her Ditzy arty thing drives her crazy & she can't hold a candle to the sort of prima donna performance some of these girls can throw. I was trying very hard not to laugh & then Lid said, 'Gosh, they're all a bunch of kinesthetic learners aren't they?!' I began to giggle. Liddy has no tact at all. So I began to fill her in on some of the kids' more endearing quirks when they get nervous before a performance ~ all of them far too rude to post here ~ & very shortly the pair of us were convulsed in silent giggles.

Liddy got to see Ditz do her *solo* & attracted a lot of comments of her own because she & Ditz look sooo alike & they are the only ones who can't see it. Meanwhile the pair of us had an older student very nervous. We kept staring at him. Liddy he thought (hoped?) might be checking him out but what was I doing? We were both trying desperately to read his T~shirt! What else?

Ditz finally came bounding over bouncing like Tigger for all she was worth & so excited that someone besides mum had seen her strut her stuff & even more excited because just for once she hadn't been the only student with a mother ensconced at the back of the hall for the entire rehearsal. She felt so grown up but she just can't be let roam about the mainland on her own so she is stuck with me. I am going to hear about this & hear about this from both my girls & for entirely different reasons. Liddy will tell me all the ways I need to be careful to not let Ditz become too ungrounded. Ditz will get even more giddy with excitement as this concert draws closer before being faced with the awful stale flat feeling that is the aftermath of so much intense training. Lets hope Liddy doesn't decide she needs to *mother* Ditz heself. That really sends Ditz rank & I will have my hands full averting a full scale war. *sigh* Some days they just make me feel very old.