Fragile

Yesterday was a day full of strong emotions. We attended two performances at our local performing arts venue. The first was a play based on the life of the American Girl doll Addy. She and her mother escaped slavery by running north to Philadelphia. Her father and brother had been sold and she and her mother had to leave a sister behind. When Evie had just turned six she checked out a book about Addy from the library. She got about a chapter in and put it aside saying it was too scary. We had talked about slavery, the Civil War, the underground railroad so she had a passing familiarity with the time period. The Addy book brought it too much to life. This year we have seen two plays about slavery and the abolitionist movement and done a lot of reading. Evie wants to talk about it a lot now. The horror of prejudice is almost incomprehensible to her. We both cried and cried at the play--how can people be so cruel? These lessons and discussions are both the best and most painful parts of homeschooling.

The second performance was from the Peking Acrobats. A troupe whose physical prowess and contagious enthusiasm makes you want to yell and scream just for the sheer joy of the human animal. We cheered and clapped and yelled 'til we were hoarse.

From there we zipped to horseback riding lessons where Evie is 200% concentration and she takes in so much information and tries to do her best on top of a giant horse. I nearly explode with pride every lesson.

By the time we got home I wanted to pull the covers over my head and stay there! Scott is out three nights a week with skating now so we struggled through the evening playing a ghost game and reading Harry Potter (just started #5). I was not much fun. I will try to recharge a bit today.

Whew, who needs roller coasters--just hang onto your life!