IT'S VOODOO TIME....

BUT BEFORE YOU GO STICKING PINS WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG...Let me tell you my favorite voodoo personal story. As many of you know, for years I was a "Ballet Mom."
I would watch through the glass window as my little Melissa would take hours upon hours of classical ballet lessons. As she got older, the competition got more intense. So many little girls turning into young ladies, and all wanting to be professional ballerinas. Auditions were gut wrenching; and I am talking about the "ballet stage mothers (myself included, I was probably the worse) waiting in the wings while my young daughter tried out for numerous placement opportunities. Who says VOODOO doesn't work? When Melissa was about 13 she was auditioning for a major dance role in an upcoming ballet. We knew it was down to two girls; Melissa and - well, let's call her Jessica. The night before the big audition, Melissa and I visited the University of Utah Book Store and ran across a voodoo doll and a book on voodoo. We looked at each other, laughed and paid the cashier for the doll with pins. We went home and sat on the family room floor and took turns sticking the pins into the right ankle of the doll while repeating a chant on Jessica's behalf. I can't remember the exact words we used, but it wasn't pretty! The next day I shoved my way between anxious parents at the window and watched as the girls did their warm up exercises to prepare for the final auditions. I noticed right off that Jessica wasn't in warmup class. (could it be?) I inquired amongst the mothers as to Jessica's absence and one unsuspecting mother blurted out that Jessica wouldn't be to class as she had broken her ankle. Wow! It worked! I did feel bad for about oh, almost a minute. However, Melissa sure looked beautiful in that lead ballet role.
Melissa went on to becoming a soloist with Nevada Ballet Theatre for seven years.