Take Me Home (Revised)

Epilogue: Dana

"Alumni Modern piece goes on in three minutes!" I yelled back into the dressing room. I scanned the recital schedule from backstage, as I counted the students who were ready to perform, as they lined up in the wings.

"I can't find my other dance paw." Brei panicked, frantically searching around the floor backstage and in the dressing rooms.

"Here, wear mine." I suggested, digging through my bag, for my pads that hugged the ball of the foot to ease turning on hard floors. I knew the doctors cleared her to do this, but I couldn't help but be a little on edge for my Brei. Yes, I said my Brei. It was official this morning.

"Thanks, Dana! Do I look okay?" She asked, as she tugged the fabric over her feet and fiddled with the donut bun in her hair.

"You look beautiful. Now get out there and have fun. Remember, your senior recognition is right after this piece, so don't go anywhere!" I smiled, patting her back, careful not to hit her stitches, as she ran onto the stage, taking her place. I couldn't believe she was a senior already. It seemed just like yesterday she was this spunky little ten year-old in my cadet program. She grew up so beautifully over the years, it was going to be hard to let her go to college when she's ready. I felt my eyes begin to water up, as she started dancing after the MC announced the title of the piece, and the music started.

     Coldplay's "Fix You" exploded from the speakers, and reverberated throughout the whole auditorium. The stage was filled with bright lights and sounds, as the students told the story of a grieving woman (Brei's big solo), who is aided by every member of the dance team in her quest to recovery (both figuratively, and quite literally, as Brei needed help performing a few dance moves). When I first allowed Brei to still participate in the recital, I tried to make her part easier, and simplify the choreo, but she wouldn't let me change anything. The most she would let me do is have her classmates help her with a few moves, and make it look like part of the show. She even managed to do a triple pirouette without any help. Her black flowy dress waved in the breeze she made with her turns. I couldn't believe how beautiful she was, and how lucky I was to have her. I was still blown away by her stage presence and the way she expressed the emotions in the story the song orated. Her facial expressions and body movements sent shivers of reality down my spine. When I found out she was suffering and grieving where she lived, it tore my heart into thousands of tiny pieces. And now that we've helped her and taken care of her, she's finally free, and I can breathe without fear for her again. The dance feature during the chorus began, and it was the best I'd ever seen it. Occasionally someone would get off time or fall out of a pirouette, but this time, it was gorgeous. I was actually surprised Brei could do all of that after having a lung tissue transplant just a few months ago.

     Now the closer, Brei piques to center stage, as the rest of the students circle around her. She drops to the ground, and then every student lays a hand on her back, gently obviously! As the last note reverberates, their hands rise, and so does she, then Max, one of the two male-performers lifts her up by her waist and inner thigh, as she raises her head up high with a far-off look in her eye, and a slight smile, reaching an open palm to the audience, as she was then, as the song insinuates, "fixed". I nearly had a stroke when Brei said she wanted to keep the lift. Not only because she'd just had surgery, but because that was one of her biggest fears. Surgery changes a person. She had this great new mindset of that she could do anything now. I couldn't believe how far she'd come. Words couldn't express how proud I was of her. How much I loved her.

     When she told me she wanted to do the lift in the first place, she told me she wanted to face her fears. And I wasn't about to stop her. I had to work with Max myself for hours before I let him try with Brei. But after hours and hours of rehearsals and practice, the whole routine couldn't have been more beautiful. The crowd roared as the exhausted students hustled off stage to change out of their uniforms.