Saturday, Peyton was in her first school beauty pageant. All week, I had been trying to prepare her for what was in store. Audience full of hundreds of people, spotlights, huge stage. I mean, COME ON, Peyton cried and refused to sing the first time she led a song for Leaderettes. When I tried to get her to walk in her dress to check the alterations, she covered her face and whined. I let her watch the DVD of the big girls competing last year, and she still didn't want to walk. And SHE was the one who wanted to be in the pageant. Begged me to let her be in it. This was not looking good.

The day before the pageant, I was a nervous wreck. Peyton can be so volatile. I was so scared she would realize what was going on and just adamantly refuse to go out on stage. Yep, definitely a Peyton thing to do. I was to the point where I did not care at all if she even placed. I just wanted her to actually walk on the stage!!! The morning of the pageant, before we left to go to the beauty shop, I said, "Now, Peyton, before we leave you REALLY need to practice walking. Just like we practice softball and soccer, you need to practice walking if you want to do it right." She looked up at me with those big blue eyes, put her hand on my arm and said, "Mother, you have teached me good. Now you are just aggravating me. I know how to do it. You will just have to see me walk tonight." I had no idea what she was actually going to do.

Moment of truth...they called her number, then hesitated for a tiny moment, looked up, smiled, and walked like a pro. While I do not advocate a child telling a parent what he/she is or isn't going to do, I guess she really did know what she was doing. Maybe she just got lucky. I still say practice makes perfect!!! All the girls were beautiful and did wonderfully.

We love you and are proud of you, Peyton. Not for winning some dumb pageant that really doesn't have anything to do with how pretty you are, but for doing your very best and being a good sport. As long as your actions are pleasing to God and you are beautiful on the inside, the rest will fall into place.

Drama!

Last week, Peyton auditioned for "The Land of Uz" at Corner Theater (hence the blog title). She was very excited, but when she got there she freaked out a little. There were two parts to the audition. First, you went into a small room with a group of 5 students to sing. When Peyton came out, she looked at me sternly and tears started to roll down her face. I said, "Baby, what's wrong?" She said, "They wanted me to sing 'see, see, see' and I didn't want to sing!" Uh oh...

So on to phase two of the audition. This was the speaking part. This time, she was in a library FULL of all the other hopefuls and their parents. I was thinking to myself, "Great, if she flips out in a group of 5 kids, what is she going to do in a room full of people?" Much to my surprise, she did GREAT! When it came her turn, she stood up and read her line like a pro. She played around with the directors and everything. It was awesome.

Turns out that she was not cast in the play this time. I was so scared to break the news to her. I didn't know what she would do. She wanted to be in the play SO badly. It was breaking my heart just trying to think of the words to say. I decided to tell her this: "They didn't pick you this time, but they want you to come audition again if they have another play. And it's okay, because you will already be really busy. You have Leaderettes and softball practice, and you know there are lots of birthday parties coming up." She looked disappointed when I told her, but lo and behold, this was her response: "Mama, I bet they didn't pick me because I wouldn't sing, 'see, see, see'. Maybe next time they will ask me to sing, 'doh, doh, doh' and I will do it!"

Lord, thank you for giving me a daughter with the ability to handle it when things don't go her way. It seems like I underestimated her ability yet again. Children never cease to amaze me with their grace and poise and ability to handle pressure. I'm so happy that she took it in stride. In my book, it's important to want to win, but equally as important to know how to lose with grace, learn from your mistakes, and persevere.