sweetness and uncertainty

chronicle employees who are part of the media guild met with our union reps yesterday to discuss out fate.

i waffle between thinking i should try to ride it out and hang onto my paycheck till they pack up the presses or volunteering for a buyout and embracing a new life as a stay at home mom (SAHM for those who don't speak mommyblog). i'm going to get some good advice, then go with my gut...

i left work after the meeting to go to parent observation day at miss tilly's ballet studio.

parker couldn't find her new ballet shows and once again had to borrow a pair from miss tilly. she's currently sporting a brow-raising shiner on her right eye and the vestiges of light blue marker that she and her buddy alexandra painted their faces with at school yesterday, before getting busted in the bathroom. then there was the "tattoo" on her arm that i tried to scrub off, but i just ended up like a big purple bruise.

so, there we were at miss tilly's powder pink waiting room with the pacific-heights-hamlin-school money crowd. miss tilly invited us in after she assembled all of the little dancers in their positions seated on the floor. i gasped when i saw them -- all small and pink and adorable in little tutus -- and instantly teared up. it was the sweetest thing ever.

miss tilly is amazing. she has to be in her sixties or better and she jetes around her airy, bright california street studio, in tights and a leotard, still checking her perfect form in the mirrors. her hair is coiffed, makeup impeccable and there's not a drop of cellulite on those firm dancers legs. i had parker on a waiting list for two years to get her into miss tilly's. she loves it.

miss tilly puts up with nothing, chastising parents who try to slip in late and chatty 4-year-old girls equally. you meet her and instantly know who's boss. it was so sweet to watch these little girls practice plies, hops and bows with "miss wendy" playing tchaikovsky on the piano.

a nice antidote to the chronicle hysteria.