Let It Snow

Hebe is in white in the middle

"Let it Snow Dance Show" is the name of Hebe’s concert at school.

Catherine told me to get there early to have a good seat.

I was ½ an hour early and four rows back, which I consider to be a good seat.

The programme began with someone telling us some history about the two school who would be performing. A signer was there translating with her hands for us.

I was struck by the name of one of the donors toward the programme: “Thanks to the Altman-Nakashima family who supports us in the name of their son Justin who loved coming to school”.

This cannot be said of Hebe.  The part about loving school.  Every morning she is in trauma going out the door. Someone may laugh at her hat. She didn’t do enough homework. What if the boy next to her comments on her glasses. Why can’t she change schools? Would being in a different family help? Who cut the grapes and added them to her fruit salad for that has ruined her day and she can’t go to school because of it.

This is the same school that made some other little boy’s day.

LtoR back row: person in yellow, Hebe with special arm move

She has been talking about this performance for days, working on it, worrying that one of the other little boys in the class will not do his part correctly and so ruin the whole day.

There were 19 numbers, all about snow. Penguins, ice sculptures, a toy train (each wheelchair was decorated as though it were a different train of the car).

Hebe’s class did “The Whos of Whoville”.

She didn’t want to wear the fringed psychedelic hat of the other “whos” in the class, so her hair was done up Princess Leia style with some pom poms added.

The miracle of the show was that everyone got to dance. At some time or another each performer came to the front of the stage for their 5 seconds of fame while the whole auditorium wildly clapped for each – which mean about 1 ½ hours of happy frenzy.

Some parents were cheering wildly, others were sobbing. I was doing both.

Arta