15 FEB 26

It's another alarm in the five o'clock hour for day two of competition downtown...

Patience is already rushing around hunting gaffers tape for the bottom of her hard shoes... “What? Who took it?” // “You don't remember?” // “No...?” // “I distinctly remember Puck asking to borrow some of it and then when you handed it to him he smiled and said... this is mine now”...

Meanwhile Yali is eagerly opting out of a repeat of this grand circus... so he and Oxbear drop off the girls shortly after seven o'clock before they scoot back to church for a full morning of hours a little more holy than the ballroom of pre-teen girls past their eyes in rhinestones and lipstick... except for Patience... “Sorry Patience... no make-up” // “But whyyyyyy?”... halfway through the weekend she's forgotten about it...

It's a faster day already... sitting around for only about seven hours while the nearby parents also entertain themselves with needlepoint of William Shakespeare portraits and reading the nutrition facts on bags of pre-popped popcorn etc...

And so Patience throws out what best she's got for the day on the first ballroom floor and for all of that effort she is finally awarded her second first and her first in St. Louis in a long long time... it's a tough competition scene and she excitedly takes top place on the podium in a sapphire sash with an additional award of a fifteen-dollar Starbucks gift card... only one more first to go before the highest level of Irish dance will finally be attained...

The rest of the day is not as abundantly successful but Patience still leaves with a stash of sashes and medals and certificates and a stop for a strawberry refresher and chocolate croissant with her Starbucks card on the drive home... which might be almost her favorite part of the day...