To my parents - Mother's and Father's Day

Hello there!

Today I write again as I promised after a calmed day more or less. Soon we’ll be having holidays and I’ll be able to go back home for a couple of weeks which is amazing as I haven’t been there in the past five months and I can’t wait to see my family and friends and spend a wonderful time in Barcelona.

Today’s post is related to home and specially family. Yesterday in Germany it was Father’s Day and in Spain Mother’s Day was celebrated on the 6th of May and I want to do a short post dedicated to my parents, my very number one fans and supporters.

We never really celebrated these two festivities but I believe that it gives me a great opportunity to highlight them and all the wonderful things they do for me and the whole family.

When I decided to pursue ballet as a professional career, my parents told me that they would be there to their 150% 24/7. And they were there even more than that. From the very beginning I was told that ballet wasn’t going to be able for me and they were the only ones believing in me from the very beginning.

I remember that my mum would watch all the ballet videos with me and would help me learn about the choreographers and composers of each one and my dad would help me out with my flexibility helping me achieve my splits and even teaching me how to do proper abs and back strength exercises as a child.

My dad and I when I was about three

They supported me when I decided to change school in primary degree to the one where I could train and still get my education which was situated one hour and a half away from home by subway. My dad would drive me there every single morning waking up extremely early and my mum would come to pick me up and have that subway journey together.

I was sacrificing my whole family for my dream. All the money spent on pointe shoes, leotards, bobby pins and physios, well any dancer will know how much of a savings account that can take and my parents were willing to do it from the very beginning. They’ve always been committed to my passion no matter how well or bad it turned out in the end.

When I got to the conservatoire, I had five years of major ups and downs. I was growing up as a teen (which is already hard for parents to rise a teenager) and I was pursuing this very difficult career and they deal with absolutely everything. Always behind me pushing me to get through difficulties and praising me when I did well.

My mum and I two years ago in Frankfurt

And then, I left them. I came to Germany and they still let me go. As hard as it is for a parent to leave their kids fly free, they knew that was the best option for me to get closer to my goal. I know that the firsts months were the hardest ones for everyone in several ways but we learned to adjust ourselves to new dynamics and ambiances.

I’ll never be able to express how grateful I feel and how proud I am of having the family I belong to. They are my light, my very first thing in life and they’ve done absolutely everything in their hands to help me in every possible way.

I’ll never be able to fully understand what’s really parenting until I don’t have my own children, of course, but I know that being a good parent is loving your children no matter what. Even if they make the wrong choice, even if they fall a thousand times, as a parent you’ll help them stand up a thousand and one times and I’ve learned that from them.

In these celebrations I think it’s important to tell them how much you love them and how much you care about them. They are one of the only persons in this world that will always be there for you, even when they’re gone. So thank you mum and dad for being absolutely everything to me. For bringing me joy, courage and love to everything I do.

I’ll love you always. Como las arenitas del mar.

Love,

Muriel