middle school | Lessons from my daughter

March 2012

Emily is 13 years old and performed at the school coffee house.

By performed I mean she signed-up for it, practiced with her music teacher and the night of the coffee house she stood in front of the crowd and did her thing!

I’ve been holding on to this video for 4 years.

I’m ready to show you!

But before you watch it you should know.

When Emily signed-up, I was proud of her and scared. I called her school and her music teacher said it would be fine… So I went with it.

Over the years, I’ve gone with it so many times.

Regardless of my feelings, if Emily wanted to try something, I said ok.

So there I was… sitting in a school’s gymnasium, with Jon, his mom, Barb & Greg and Lorraine & her family.

I was nervous while Emily was completely comfortable.

When her turn arrived, I started filming and asked the universe to keep an eye on my girl and make the crowd show love for Emily regardless of how it went.

In the video, you see Emily get ready and dedicate her song to her friend Chelsea and start singing. Than you see her realize she’s on stage and get the giggles 😊 once the giggles are under control, you can hear her sing better… Meanwhile, you can hear me sing 😳 as if I could help her get through it 😂 I’m also crying at the same time…

You’ll see or rather you’ll hear!

The crowd clapped and cheered for her but I was the loudest.

The other students there high fived her as she walked back to our table.

To this day, I still have people who were there talk to me about it.

Emily touched many people that night.

Okay…. enough chatting, go watch her and come back to tell me what you think.

Coffee House

Butterfly fly away by Miley Cyrus

You tuck me in,
Turn out the light
Kept me safe and sound at night
Little girls depend on things like that

Brushed my teeth and combed my hair
Had to drive me everywhere
You were always there when I looked back

You had to do it all alone
Make a living, make a home
Must have been as hard as it could be

And when I couldn’t sleep at night
Scared things wouldn’t turn out right
You would hold my hand and sing to me

Caterpillar in the tree, how you wonder who you’ll be
Can’t go far but you can always dream
Wish you may and wish you might
Don’t you worry hold on tight.
I promise you there will come a day
Butterfly Fly Away
Butterfly Fly Away (butterfly fly away

Find more about about Cri du Chat syndrome at 5p- Society

Emily has a her own page in the family stories , you can find it here: Emily

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On Wednesday morning, Emily talked about her syndrome to her classmates for the first time.

During the day, the students received their yearbook.

During the same day, Emily’s yearbook was signed by a lot of her 8th grade classmates and not just meaningless signatures… I’m not sure if the kids all had to sign each others books or if it just finally happened this year but instead of teachers, EA, resource teacher and a couple of students which is normally what she gets…. Her classmates signed her yearbook!!!!

For most kids, this is a normal/regular thing. For my daughter, this is a new wonderful thing.

I had tears in my eyes reading some of the signatures.

Emily even got 2 phone numbers from girls in her class….

So, today’s post will be pictures of some of the best signature / messages Emily received! I am, of course, hiding the kids names but here it is.