The letter from ABT had come earlier in the week and Sharon watched from the kitchen as a fourteen year old Emily picked it up off the dining table and impatiently ripped it open without giving it second thought. After all, this was a letter that could decide on her future.
And decide it did.
"Yes! I got in! I got in! I got in!" Emily's clear voice rang out as she started twirling around the living room.
"I'm going to New York. Oh Mom! I'm going to New York. I'm gonna be at ABT!"
Nothing but sheer excitement and pure joy in her daughter's features and Sharon had bitten her lip and put on a brave face. Oh, she was so proud of her daughter daring to reach for the stars and following her dreams. Her mother's heart only wished Emily would have been able to follow her dreams in Los Angeles. Her mother's heart only wished Emily hadn't still been quite so young.
Sharon had sat through mass with her hand wrapped around Emily's trying to hold on to her daughter and hold on the memories of her little girl suddenly so grown up.
Her last Easter with her little girl, she had thought, as Emily found her 'egg'. A pair of new ballet shoes to take with her. Sharon tried to memorise every little detail about her daughter, the laughter, the excitement, the sound of her voice, the exuberance and the smell of her soft hair as she pressed a kiss to her head. Next year it would be just Ricky and her and Emily would be away in New York, all grown up despite her young age, following her dream, becoming a ballerina.
Sharon had smiled through it all and celebrated with Emily, but it seemed her act hadn't been fully convincing.
"Why are you so sad, Mommy? Did you have a bad case at work?" her little boy had asked when she settled him into bed that night and Sharon had only just managed to swallow her tears.