Mother Figures: Aunts and Dance Coaches

Family Search's question for June 3 was: Who are some important mother figures besides your own mother who have been influential in your life?

There have been several influential women in my life, but I'm going to narrow it down to three: my aunts Selma and Vickie, and my dance coach Angela.

My aunt Selma is one of my dad's older sisters. They come from a family of 12 kids; and Selma is #4 and my dad is #5. Selma was pregnant with her only daughter, Jamie, when my parents got married. A year later my mom was pregnant with me, and Selma was so happy that Jamie would have a girl cousin her age! Jamie and I were raised as sisters, so Selma became a second mom to me early on in my life. I slept over at her house a lot, as well as doing lots of day activities with her family; and her kids did the same with my family. When I was 15 Selma took me and my brother on a trip to California with her kids where we saw Wicked in L.A.! It was so fun! Now my own kids love her. Benjamin loves to talk to her, and Luna will ask her to hold her. Selma will always be close to my family.

My aunt Vickie is one of my dad's younger sisters. She is #11.  She wasn't married nor did she have kids when I was younger, so she had a lot of time and energy to play with her nieces and nephews, and she was "the cool aunt" and she was my favorite aunt. I really looked up to her because she was educated and traveled. She went to BYU Hawaii for college, she served a mission, and she has visited Australia and I believe Sweden. My parents always instilled in me the importance of an education; but watching Vickie's example also helped. I wanted to be just like her. She got her degree in Psychology, and has been an elementary school Psychologist for many years. My Sophomore and Junior year in high school Vickie helped my mom get my dance team performances at the schools in her school district for our tour to California! I was 17 when Vickie got married, and she asked me to be a bride's maid! When she threw the bouquet at her wedding, I elbowed an other girl in the face to catch it. Two years later, Gerson and I got married. Vickie has always been supportive of the choices I have made in my life, and I really appreciate that. Since Vickie lives in California, we don't get to see her very often, but when we do, we always enjoy our time together.

My high school ballroom dance coach Angela Williams really took me under her wing when I was on her team my Sophomore-Senior years in high school. When I tried out for the high school ballroom team at the end of 8th grade, I didn't make any of the teams, but was named as the alternate for JV. About two months into my freshman year, I got moved up to JV! When tryouts came around the next year I was really hoping for Varsity, but I didn't make it. I remained on JV and was named as the Varsity alternate. Two months into Summer vacation, I got a call from Angela and she asked me if I would like to move up to Varsity! That year one of the seniors on the team asked if I would be his partner for open Latin competition (that means competing in costumes against really good dancers). We technically weren't at the open level, but instead of discouraging us, Angela gave us advice on how to get the best experience out of it. That year she put me on the Latin Medley and told me that my private lessons from open competition helped me be good enough for the medley.

My junior and senior years I had a new partner and Angela and her husband Chris were my private coaches. They both really cared about me and my success. They taught me so much, and I knew that I was more than a paycheck to them. My senior year I tried out for the BYU ballroom dance scholarship and team try outs. Candidates who were chosen as semi-finalists were guaranteed a spot in the BYU ballroom program even if they didn't get a scholarship. There were a lot of good dancers that I was up against, and I knew that it would take a miracle to get an actual scholarship, but I really thought I could be chosen as a semi-finalist. I wasn't, and was crushed. I would have to try out again in September. Angela called one of the directors and told him that even though I wasn't the best dancer out of the bunch, I was one of the hardest workers that she knew and I consistently improved. A couple weeks after I received the rejection letter of being a semi-finalist, BYU's National Dancesport competition took place. My partner and I placed 5th in Youth Pre-Champ Latin, and 2nd in Youth Smooth Championship! Angela told one of the BYU directors, and a month later they told Angela to have me contact them. I met with them and they gave me a spot in the program. All because Angela went to bat for me. I only danced for BYU for a year and half, and then my life took a different route with marriage and the major I had chosen. Even though my original goals and plans for my dance career didn't happen, I will always be grateful to Angela and Chris for all that they did for me during that part of my life.