Wednesday was a competition day, but Madeline only had once dance all day, and it wasn’t an early call time. I woke up around 7 am, which is sleeping in for me. I decided I wanted a sit-down breakfast, so I went to the hotel’s main casual dining restaurant, Fast Break, and got a table. Andrew joined me when he returned from working out at the JCC. Madeline let me know she was up, but she wasn’t interested in coming down for breakfast. She just wanted to relax in the room until it was time to dance.

She had a 10:30 call time for her trio, Smooth Sailing. This year was actually Madeline, Madi & Eva’s third trio together, and they just keep getting better and better together. It’s a tap trio, and tap dances are really hard to score well with. Still, they had been doing well at regional competitions, so we were hopeful. At awards, they scored platinum points, and they took 10th place overall! We were thrilled.

After awards, the girls in It’s Happening Again had a special rehearsal that the instructors had announced the day before, to prepare for Friday’s finale competition. I took the Dream Duffel up to the room and really didn’t feel like doing anything. Andrew was having dinner with colleagues, so when Madeline returned to the room we ordered carry out (McDonald’s for her, Thai food for me) and watched a movie. I was obsessively trying to finish my book, Firefly Lane, which Ellie had read and then given to me before the trip. I loved it very much and finished after Andrew returned to the room, late, after his dinner. When he got there, I was crying like crazy. It was ok that we were up late, though, because Madeline didn’t have to compete the next day, since neither of her solos nor her trio had made it to Thursday’s solo/duet/trio finale.