Ms Meg is my hero.
She has the patience of a saint when it comes to toddlers and very young children.
Her talents include gymnastics, ballet, choreography, wonderful stage make-up, props, and friendship.
Both my children started gymnastics as toddlers with Ms Meg and then took Creative Ballet (pre-pre ballet) with her for about three to four years each.
Ms Meg's daughter, her daughter's best friend, and my son were all the same age and took ballet class together with Ms Meg.
After class, the three of them and my daughter would color, play games, or figure out some way to stick around the ballet studio for an extra hour or so.
When my daughter tagged along to ballet class, Ms Meg would allow her to sit quietly in the studio and then participate for some of the exercises.
Due to the strict rule about being four years old to begin ballet, my daughter's January birthday prohibited her from beginning her own ballet class in the fall.
After many tears, I reluctantly agreed to let my daughter take dance at another dance studio where she took a combination class of ballet, tap, gymnastics, and singing.
Between the class being at my daughter's natural evening slow down time, my daughter only liking the ballet and gymnastics (which she was also taking somewhere else), and the studio wanting recital money in December for an "unknown" costume for May, I begged Ms Meg to please let my daughter take ballet classes with her the day after she turned four in January.
Ms Meg, thankfully, agreed!
When my son had his first Cavalier role during Nutcracker 2010, I cried on Ms Meg's shoulder and she recalled my son's attempt to quit rehearsing for his first ballet performance.
Apparently, he thought because he knew the dance, that practice was over; Ms Meg said that he could refuse to participate, but he would not be going on stage- my son promptly got up and joined the class.
While practicing on stage before their first performance, Ms Meg explained that they would not be able to see their parents during the performance due to the bright lights.
When asked after the performance if he could see the audience, my son's matter-of-fact reply, "Mom, you know Ms Meg said we wouldn't be able to see the audience because of the bright lights."
Ms Meg had also told the parents to get a base make-up that was a shade darker than their children's skin tone so that they would not be washed out by the stage lights.
And, yes, boys had to wear it too.
My son decided that he was not wearing make-up; Ms Meg suggested putting it on him at the last minute.
So, at the last minute before leaving the green room, my son allowed me to apply some base; and, as he was standing in line to go on stage, some blush was sneakily applied.
And, Ms Meg had a wipe to remove the make-up afterward.
Of course, the number of flower head pieces made for her budding ballerinas, extra details put on costumes and special costumes created for my son, and her handmade props- including a fire-breathing Chinese dragon that my son used for one of Ms Meg's beautiful choreographed "Chinese" pieces for Nutcracker- makes Ms Meg an artist extraordinaire.
