Hi Sidra,
Quoting your uncle Ben, I'm "blown away" by what you did last night. Your mom has changed the focus of her open mic nights she promotes for the city. Now it's an event for kid performers rather than adults. Last night was the first one and this proud dad has to say that you stole the show. There was another impressive performer but he's 11 so it's hard to make a comparison.
What did you perform? You sang two songs solo and teamed with a friend on another song. You also did a reading of your kid version of "Tangled," the Disney story of Rapunzel.
Your confidence in front of the audience was like that of a seasoned artist. You were calm and played the crowd like a veteran. While singing the valentine song you improvised a little and named people in the audience in the key parts of the verse. You made eye contact with the principal characters in your song and played to the camera a little. While reading your story you had the presence to show the audience the pictures in the book (until I suggested that it would take too long to do that on every page) and took care to speak into the mic. You weren't even ruffled when the sound system squeaked out a little feedback.
In video of your book reading perhaps the most important member of the audience is visible. Your kid sister can be seen actually looking "up" to you. You could not been a better role model for her at that moment. She adores you and takes your lead on nearly everything. She's clearly willing to fill your shoes if she could. It's wonderful that she has such a great standard to aspire to.
Only recently have you said anything about what you want to be when you grow up. Whoops, I mean other than being a princess. Recently you said you wanted to be a fashion designer and sew your own clothes. After you came home last night you said you might consider being a storyteller. And in a moment of grace, you thanked your mom for setting up the program that you performed in.
That's all for now....
Love, Aba
