MegaMAID's Parenting Parables

Life moves fast! Taking time to write (or read) about it sometimes helps keep things in perspective. Below you'll find a few thoughts from Meg, a MAID in Maryland...

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Location: Maryland, United States

“Mother Addicted to Irish Dance” (MAID) is a title that I first began to earn in the summer of 2003. Watching my daughter express the music of my ancestry through this beautiful art form stirred in me a joy that was … all-consuming! It led to an “addiction” that I continue to feed as a parent, as a writer, as an adult dancer, and as an enthusiastic Craic participant.

September 23, 2006

Thanks for supporting this dancer’s family…

If you've read the post just before this one, then you already know of the recent sad news from Maryland. On Thursday, September 14, a dancer from the Teelin School of Irish Dance and her father both died in an ocean swimming incident. The Teelin website has a memorial page:

http://www.teelin.com/amy.htm

But the reason I am posting this message today is not to share the news, it is instead to say THANK YOU! The Irish dance community is truly an amazing community! If you choose to visit Amy’s memorial page, be sure to scroll all the way down and read the messages from families all over the world. The outpourings of condolences, prayers, and offers for support have been overwhelming, and are so gratefully appreciated! Please read the letter from the Martins. This is a family of strong faith and deep love which WILL carry them through this tragedy, especially with the support of caring individuals like you!

MAIDS, DAIDS, and dancers come together in good times and bad. Both the laughter and the tears shared together are equally precious. Teelin School of Irish Dance is certainly feeling that right now, and thanks to message boards like this one, it is also being felt literally across the world.

Amy Martin was a talented young dancer who performed with the Teelin Irish Dance Company. She didn’t compete in feiseanna, not because she lacked interest, simply because she was the second oldest child in a family of six girls, all home schooled, and feising requires a different level of family commitment than the performances do. Nevertheless, at the Baltimore Feis two days after Amy and her Dad’s deaths, the feis committee offered a moment of silence to pay respect not only to the lives lost, but also to Amy’s friends and teachers who were present at the feis that day. That is a prime example of the great good within the Irish dance community, and personally, I am forever grateful to the Broesler School of Irish Dance for that act of kindness!

So, thanks, friends! I’m proud to be a part of this Irish dance community! May we share more laughter than tears, but be there for each other through both…

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