The Old Toe Shoes

by TeddiePen2Paper Sun Jul 09, 2017 5:53 am

The Old Toe Shoes

Mother hugged the toe shoes to her chest. Tears gathered in her eyes. She sat quietly, waiting for the phone call, remembering the first time she had taken her lovely girl to dance class. She was 3 and loved dancing around. At the beginning of the second year of dance classes, the teacher had taken Mother aside and told her that her little girl held great promise as a dancer. Mother had scrimped and saved and struggled but every year her lovely girl went back to dance school. The girl, when 14, started teaching little 3 and 4-year-olds to dance. This work paid for her dance classes and lightened Mother’s burden.

Now the girl was 20 she had been invited to come and audition for a ballet company. Mother had been so excited as her beloved child had left on a new adventure. She was waiting now for the phone call that would tell her if the lovely young woman was accepted into the company.

Suddenly the phone rang and the news given. it was good news and Mother was so happy to learn her lovely girl had been accepted into the ballet company. After hanging up from the call Mother sat at home clutching the old pair of toe shoes to her chest. She found herself full of excitement and despair at the same time…happy and sad all at once. Mother knew her girl would come home to visit when she could but it would be long and lonely between those visits. She clutched the shoes even more tightly to her chest and with a smile on her face let the tears fall.

©Bobbie S.