Happy 17th Birthday, Savannah!

Dear Savannah,

Today you turn 17 years old! Happy Birthday sweet girl. I cannot believe this is your last birthday that I will have with you living at home. These years have just flown by and I could not be more proud of you. Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 17 years old and some things you might like to know about your 17 year old self.

You still love dance. You still dance at a studio called The Colony in downtown Chicago and this is your 4th year with them. You train and compete in all different styles of dance, but contemporary is your favorite.
You are going to be graduating high school a full year early! You have worked incredibly hard and have gotten straight A’s in all your classes. I have never had to ask you about assignments, check on your grades or push you to do your best. You do that all on your own.
In August you are moving to NYC by yourself to attend the Steps on Broadway Conservatory training program for two years. You are wanting a career in dance and this program should get you prepared to enter the dance industry. You will train 5+ days a week in all styles of dance and you can’t wait to start your life in NY. I’m sad you are graduating early because I feel like I get one less year with you at home. But when I think of all amazing experiences you are going to have in NYC, I can’t help but smile.
This past year you attended two nationals for dance. First up was The Dance Awards (TDA) in Las Vegas, which is the nationals for a group of competitions (NUVO, 24 Seven and Jump). You competed for Teen Best Dancer at TDA. This nationals was also your team nationals so you also competed in groups. This is our 2nd time attending nationals in Las Vegas and you have realized that you really don’t like Las Vegas. You also attended NYCDA (New York City Dance Alliance) Nationals in Phoenix, AZ and competed for Teen Outstanding Dancer. You placed Top 25 with your solo ‘Immediately’ choreographed by Kirsten Russell.
Your favorite foods are burgers, pulled pork, tortellini with Alfredo sauce, shrimp, olives, avocados, pickles, bagels, Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos and sweet treats. You asked for a bag of food as one of your gifts for your birthday. It had your favorite Doritos, candy, drink, treats etc. I think you and your siblings think the bag of food is fun so that you can have all the things for yourself.
You are very well liked by all your school teachers. I am constantly hearing how on top of your work you are and how exceptional you are as a student.
Next year you will be taking voice and acting lessons. That is something outside of your comfort zone, but you know that it’ll be good for your dance career. You had to send in a vocal audition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to Steps on Broadway and I think you are going to really surprise yourself in the singing department once you start training. Girl…you can sing!
Your dream job would be to dance in a contemporary dance company. You auditioned, and were selected, for the YAGP International Contemporary Ensemble and attended a week long intensive in NYC working with choreographers and other teens from around the world. You love concert style dance which tends to be more contemporary and modern in style and you love artsy, quirky choreography. You know that there aren’t a lot of jobs in contemporary companies, so ultimately you hope to just work and get paid to dance, but I love that you have big dreams.
You still share a room with your sister. You still are VERY opposite in just about every way, but somehow you manage to coexist without too many fights. Your sister is looking forward to having her own room next year for the first time ever.
You like to leave cabinets open. We always know when you’ve been in the kitchen because many cabinets will be left open. I think you are always on such a time crunch to get all of the things done (you are VERY busy), that you sometimes overlook basic things like closing a cabinet. Hopefully you’ll fix that in NY or your roommate might get annoyed.
You take really good care of your skin and it is beautiful. One of our dance mom friends asked you for your skincare routine and you made a video for her. I’m not sure how you have avoided any type of teenage breakouts, but you are very lucky.
You absolutely love both of your dogs, Scotty and Scarlett. I think you really have a soft spot for Scotty since he is definitely more needy and snuggly. You’d take him with you to NYC if you could and I know he is going to miss you so much.
You don’t want much to do with anything school related. You have lots of friends but you don’t get together with them outside of school. They asked if you wanted to go to Prom and you have zero interest. You are ready to finish school and move on.
You are incredibly organized, disciplined, hard working, responsible and smart. You truly are an exceptional 17 year old. I don’t know many kids like you.
You love to sleep. You get very little sleep each week since you dance in the city and don’t get home until 10:15. Then you have to do your homework, so you maybe get 5 hours of sleep a night. But when you have a day off, you catch up on all your sleep and love to sleep in and take naps.
You love all of your dance friends. The little kids at dance have really taken a liking to you and you are so great with them. You help do their buns for ballet, talk to them, listen to them, help them with homework. You are truly a great mentor and example for those young girls. You will miss them next year and they will miss you.
You want to have Broccoli Cheese Soup in a bread bowl from Panera for lunch and Slyce Woodfired Pizza for dinner on your birthday. Good thing both of those things don’t have meat because this year your birthday falls on the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday).
You and your Grandma Jane share the same birthday which is really special. Grandma Jane and Pepo came in to visit this last weekend from Texas and you both got to do a little early celebrating with a trip to Texas Roadhouse and cake and ice cream.
Your room is still messy. I don’t get it. You are so exceptional in every other area of life, but your room is such a mess. I call the pile of clothes at the foot of your bed ‘Mt. St. Laundry’.
You have a really funny Instagram channel called ‘ASMR.Incredible’ where you film ASMR videos with friends from school and dance. I love that it shows your funny and weird side because not everyone gets to see that.

I still don’t think it has sunk in that you will be going off on your own next year. I try not to think about it. You and I have shared so many incredible memories. I will cherish all our fun that we’ve had through dance….traveling, competing, meeting new friends etc. I can’t wait to see where life takes you! I have no doubt in my mind that you will be incredibly successful in whatever you choose to do. You make me so proud to be your mother! You are amazing and I hope you are proud of yourself. Happy 17th Birthday, Savannah!