Sometimes, as a parent, you have to make sacrifices. It didn't seem like a large sacrifice when my daughter decided she wanted to do ballet.

A once-a-week commitment for the family, the knowledge that I might end up taking her once in a while, no big deal.

But then came news of the recital.

May 4th seemed like so far away when she first began.

And then it became clear that we were going to sit through 90 minutes of watching a bunch of girls we didn't know doing ballet so we could enjoy our daughter's 3 minute, 30 second performance.

And I fully expected to hate it.

But - and this was a shocker - I didn't.

I wish I could show you a picture or some video of my daughter's performance. But picture- and video-taking is prohibited. (Read: Buy our video!)

I assure you - it was adorable. (And I have to admit - I really enjoyed the song her group danced to. It's called Sun In The Morning And Moon At Night. My mom knew it - I had never heard it before. Apparently, according to the link I just gave, it's from Annie Get Your Gun.)

And that's the thing - the whole recital was pretty adorable. It was a mix of young kids, older (high school-aged) girls, grown women from a hip hop class, and even a group of dads doing a dance. (No.)

The music throughout was pretty good, and the whole thing moved - I never felt tortured sitting there.

And my daughter? She was awesome. And I was proud. Darn near cried. (And if I got that emotional about my daughter doing ballet, I can only imagine how graduations and such are going to go down the line.)

My older daughter enjoyed it so much she wants to be involved next year. My younger daughter was well-behaved watching, and who knows - maybe she'll be a dancer in the future too. I'm just thrilled with the whole experience.

Next year the place that gives the dance lessons will be celebrating its 25th anniversary, and it looks like I'll have two girls performing in that silver anniversary recital.

And...here's something I didn't think I'd say even a day ago....I'm really looking forward to it.