Performance weekend!

Rachel got to see Mommy perform on Saturday afternoon, when Pride of Portland, the chorus with which I sing and that is going to international competition in Denver next month, did its annual show. Rachel and Drew came to the matinee at Portland Community College, and I could barely see them in the audience -- not until the very end of the show, when I looked over to my right and saw Rachel in the aisle, clapping wildly, her two arms above her head. There is nothing quite so thrilling as seeing my little girl clap for me. Drew said later that she was looking at our choreography and trying to copy it!

Afterward she came shyly into the warmup room and everyone oohed and aahed over how big she is, how adorable she is and how much she looked like me. Rachel recognized my friend Deni, grabbed her around the legs and gave her a big hug, and later reported that Deni called her "Lil' Pumpkin."

We all left together and I scrubbed off my chorus makeup, we went downtown for a quick dinner and then Drew dropped me off at the ballet, where I saw one world premiere and a couple of more modern works with my friend Melissa and three of her friends. Melissa graciously invited me to an after-party at a nearby restaurant, and then I took the bus home at 11. That's one great thing about living in a safe city -- being able to take the bus home after a night out. LOVE THAT.

The next day I took Rachel to a cookie-making party at a house three blocks away. The little girl who lives there, Bridgette, was born a few weeks before Rachel and her mom, Max, was in my mom class. Bridgette has an older sister, Mari, and an older brother, Patrick, and Rachel was a little shy at first but got right into rolling out flour and decorating the cookies. Then she and Bridgette went off to play and had a little picnic of snacks in the backyard (it was cloudy but not cold), and then went downstairs to watch Hello Kitty movies while the moms finished decorating and cleaned up.

When it was time to go, Rachel got very whiny and teary and on the way home she said, "I wish I could got to Bridgette's house and live with her and be her sister. I want a sister!"

That cut me to the heart; I couldn't bear to tell her that probably won't happen.

Then I took a nap, got a bunch of passport photos taken, and then Drew fixed dinner while I figured out how to apply for visas for Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan (a long, exhausting process). I ended up getting very little sleep and dreamt of visas and chorus competition. Not a good mix.