Discovering Tristan - by Amy

I was never someone who watched Dancing With The Stars.  I followed it on websites or magazines, but was never curious or interested enough to commit the time to it. Back in Season 13, however, when I saw that Chaz Bono was going to be on, my curiosity got the best of me, and I tuned in on the first night with my then 10-year-old son in order to have a “teachable moment”.  

My intent was to teach him about different people and tolerance.  However, as we watched throughout the season, he learned about other things.  He learned about patience, respect, perseverance and how to let difficult comments and situations roll off your back.  He learned those things from Tristan MacManus.

Since we weren’t regular DWTS watchers we didn’t initially realize that this was his first season as a pro.  We thought that he had been on for a while and that’s how he developed that set of interpersonal skills. 

The work Tristan did with Nancy, the way he dealt with a person, how he handled being judged and the grace (no pun intended) he showed when they were ultimately voted off were what stuck with my son.  He still, to this day references what he learned that season, and we’ve been huge Tristan and DWTS stars ever since.

Special thanks to our guest writer, Amy, for this touching post.