Today we went to get Day pointe shoes. Day has been taking ballet since she was three years old and the teacher, who is very conservative about such things, approved her going up on pointe last year but she did not have the time. This year, Day is making the time because she figures (probably correctly) that if she does not go up on pointe this year, she likely will not do it.

Getting pointe shoes is quite a production. The whole class took a field trip over to the dance shoe store which had all five fitters from both branches there. After all, there were 17 girls in Day's class to fit as well as one girl from a more advanced class. Some fittings took more than an hour. Day's took approximately half an hour. First, they measured her feet. Next, they analyzed them: where was the arch, how wide was her foot, what was the shape of it. I never realized just how individually toe shoes must be fit. After that, she tried on eight different pairs and, of course, ended up with the one she had tried on first. It wasn't that Day kept saying "let's try another," it's that the fitter was looking to see if something else might be better.

Toe shoes do an amazing amount of work and are the product of quite a bit of engineering. Great amount of muscle development is required to use them properly but, if you take the time to let someone else help you, the right toe shoes can make the job much, much easier. I have to keep reminding myself that life is like that too: it takes a great deal of exercise�mental, physical, emotional�to use it properly but, if you take the time to let others help you, it can be much, much easier.

So�.let the dancing begin.

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