No child stands so tall as when she stoops to pick a quarter out of a wad of gum melted into the asphalt. It’s what I thought as I watched my 5 year old daughter, Evelyn Knightly Duris, do just that on an early Spring afternoon in the parking lot of the Ballet studio. After losing her precious preparation time in the parking lot, we raced into the ballet studio to carry out the timeless ritual of stepping out of her every day shoes and slipping into ballerina slippers. It’s something any one who puts any time into ballet has gone through over and over. Rush, change, repeat. Rush, change, repeat. Something about this process combined with my 5 year old little girl fishing picket change off the pavement turned all my thoughts in the direction of how much this art of dance, called ballet, costs: ranging from 1,000-2,000 dollars a season. It all adds up and eats a hole in my “discretionary” income like a moth in an argyle wool cardigan factory. After enduring 7 deployments, her USMC Special Ops Daddy, died in the line of duty. My little ballerina turned inward and shy; she spun a cocoon around herself in which she felt the need to linger. The Our Military Kids grant gave my daughter hope and an amazing opportunity to continue in dance. She emerged from her cocoon as a graceful and strong social butterfly. Her diligent commitment and passion for ballet has afforded her an outlet for creative expression. She dreams of teaching ballet to all the other Gold Star children she meets at her military family retreats and she has already started teaching ballet to her friends in her preschool class on the playground. She is an extraordinary little soul with a heart of gold. As for the quarter that she stopped to pick up out of the wad of gum melted into the asphalt, it was deposited into her special piggy bank that holds coins she saves “to give to those children who don’t have any coins.” -Stephanie Duris