Bal Traditionnel

This morning Simon went to  a Bal Traditionnel at a stadium in Paris. The teacher said the parents could come but we had to be discreet because the children could be already very impressionne. I didn't know what to expect because my mind floated to balls with fancy dress in gold and mirrored ballrooms. This was a gymnasium and they were told to wear dark pants and sneakers. T-shirts were provided. This ecole also color-coordinated each class, providing a little colorful neckerchief for each child to wear. Simon's class had orange neckerchiefs.

So we went to the stade and sat in the bleachers. The first problem was that there were not many parents so it was hard to be discreet as we stood out like sore thumbs and it was a small gymnasium. The second problem was that all the other parents were sitting down in the first row and were waving and calling to their children.

Harrumph! Well. If all the other parents are "breaking the rules," then why shouldn't we? I don't want little Simon to think his parents didn't love him enough to show up at his first bal! (Of course there were only three other parents there...)

So. What is this bal?

Just that--a dancing ball with organized dances and "numbers." Line dancing, polkas, waltzes, boogies. Even the "put your left hand in, put your left hand out, put your left hand in and shake it all about, do the boogie, woogie and turn yourself about..." number.

So after about three or four dances I started waving and smiling and of course little S finally saw me and was all excited and waving and pointing and smiling back! Then I complained how our pictures are going to be terrible because we're all the way on the other side of where S is so we can't see him as well. Dear hubby agreed to move to the other side of the stade. We moved. Now we couldn't see S and smile and wave at him when he was sitting down. We were able to see him better for the dances though.

He's a good dancer.

Then I got worried he was going to get in trouble because he kept jumping up and looking back at us now and waving like the little girl next to him. Shoot. And Muriel (the maîtresse) told us to be discreet!

All was well until the dance was finished. Simon's class was going up into the bleachers to get their coats but Hubby wanted us to leave immediately before he saw us leave.

My fears

I was afraid of leaving before he saw us because I didn't want him to feel abandoned. One minute we're all laughing and waving and the next minute he doesn't see his parents anywhere. So I stayed so I could wave goodbye to him. Uh oh. Now he started crying. Damn. My worst nightmare. Now he's crying and I don't know if I'm allowed to go down and comfort him and say "it's going to be alright little guy; don't worry, we'll see each other soon enough..." Muriel has reprimanded me before for lingering too long with S when he's crying... What do I do now? Isn't this a unique situation? Besides, all the other parents were staying and some were even putting their coats on their children! Aaaargh!

So I kept walking backwards upstairs and smiling and waving and saying, "bye-bye sweetie" and "we'll see you later!" What a nightmare.

I went to a glass window looking out onto the gymnasium and saw him sitting all by himself, alone, with his jacket on, CRYING! Oh God!

Finally I had to just go towards dear Hubby, nagging me to just leave already!

Definitely a bittersweet moment.