If your dancer is like mine, and you have been doing this for a while, there are some adjudicators they want at the table while they dance, and some, well, not so much. So when TGC (that is ‘the girl child’ for you new readers) saw the ‘cool judge’ sitting at the table to judge her Hornpipe, she was thrilled. And if you follow me on Facebook, you may already know that TGC got a first in that dance, which coincidentally, was the last first she needed to be advanced to PC, so lets just say she was a little happy about it.

After the feis, we saw the judge in the hotel lobby, so TGC went over to thank her. The judge gave her a hug, and as I don’t recall exactly what she said, so I am paraphrasing, I heard something along the lines of “I just judged, you did all the hard work.”

My first thought was, giving the credit to the dancer, what a class act, but then, I thought about her words more.

You see TGC (if you even read this blog), you are going to be judged repeatedly in life. In dance, in school, at your job, by your peers, and so on, and the work you do leading to those events, will determine how those ‘judges’ see you. Hard work generally yields the best results.

The other lesson is, if, and knowing you I mean when, you are privileged enough to be in a position where you are the judge, give credit where credit is due. There are way to many people in life who would have taken the thanks expressed to that judge, and turned it into being about them.

So I guess I learned something here too, Julie Showalter, you are the ‘cool judge’. Thank you.