Every year on a Tuesday night in December people gather at a church. Some people (ie. Me and Gigi) get there at 4:30 to get the best seats in the house. We patiently wait for the seats to fill and chatter to begin. We sit and wonder what the guests of honor will be wearing and how well the performance will go. We tell the big kids 1365 times to quit bouncing/yelling/talking/poking/pushing/complaining and finally send them to the balcony where we just cross our fingers that they don't fall off.
And then the procession starts and the tiniest most adorable angels begin to walk in. And I love it - one of my favorite nights of the season. But his year was different, because I wasn't there. I was miles away in Boston for a work event and as sad as I was... I was so thrilled to have such a village as mine that I knew Landry King still felt as loved (if not more) than when I am in those seats.
Ryan made sure to capture as many moments as he could, and totally got the most perfect shots of these tiny ones walking in.
Landry apparently needed one more picture taken before the performance.
This crew. The "elders". The ones that know-it-ALL. And tell you about it. I can only imagine what insight and wisdom Kayla is clearly sharing with Jackson. Ha!
And then the singing began once again complete with hand motions.
And y'all... Landry had so much fun up on that stage!
I waited a reasonable amount of time to call/text/harass Ryan and when I saw the video I just welled up with tears. Such a mixture of sadness for missing it, self-grace for knowing its ok, and gratefulness for the love we are surrounded by.
And you know what? If I would have been there I would have missed her telling me ALL about it. I would have missed the pride in her voice, the joy in her story and the excitement in sharing it with me.
But don't worry, I'm not gonna miss it next year!
I imagine you looked just like her up on a stage when you were her age!!! So sweet!
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