prelude

Ella requested some help getting ready for her piano recital. She asked me to paint her nails and curl her hair. And she shyly suggested that maybe she could wear a little blush. And maybe . . . some lip gloss? I was happy to oblige.

We sat at the dining room table and painted her nails a pretty pink that Ella commented made her fingers look like flower petals. Then we went upstairs to the bathroom where I took a deep breath and made my first attempt at styling Ella's thick mane with a curling iron. I sectioned her hair into three ponytails, each one of them with enough hair for any seven-year-old girl. Curling all of it took about 40 minutes, and Ella opted to pass the time with a Real Simple magazine from my nightstand. I watched her read entire articles with titles like, "Modern Manners: How do you ensure that the office won't bother you when you go on vacation?" and "Life Lesson: A mom bids a fond farewell to carpooling." My favorite was when she, while surveying Father's Day gift ideas, laughed out loud at how each of the featured alma mater-style gifts was from a school with a team in the Big 10 Women's Golf Championship.

After an hour of pampering, Ella's requests had been granted. She looked as beautiful as ever, but felt a little extra special. She was ready for her solo.

This photo was taken after the recital, when her heavy locks had lost most of their curl.
The ringlets were so pretty while they lasted!