NSSHP 2007 Book

Our family went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World in 2007. It was the best trip we've ever taken to Disney, according to my oldest boys. Just the fact that these teen/pre-teen boys had such a blast and were willing to admit it told me that they REALLY loved it. We have loved listening to the event music from it and talking about it so much that I wanted to put some of our pictures together and make some kind of memory book about it.

When Shutterfly sent me a code for a free photobook, I knew just what I wanted to do with it. They've got some fun Halloween backgrounds, so it went together pretty easily. The kids are thrilled that they have a book they can look through to see shots of so many of the fun things we did. I, of course, look at it and wish I had been able to place things a little bit differently or remembered to write one thing or another on certain pages before I published it, but I have to admit that I'm quite thrilled to have it to look through and share with friends and family. Besides, when I combined it with other things I needed to get from the site (I print pictures through them) and with other discount codes, the whole book was totally free and we got a back-up copy for a great price. I love free things - free things that we actually like and use - almost as much as I love a great vacation!


View Project at Shutterfly

We're playing Tagrit!

I've been tagged, and around my house that means we're playing tagrit. My daughter coined that particular phrase, using the term over several days before I figured out exactly what she meant. She lives for the fleeting moments when her three big brothers will play with her, and tagrit is a favorite game. Tag, you're it = tagrit in little-girl-trying-to-keep-up-with-big-brothers language.

Now I'm playing a different kind of tag - one that brings less physical benefits (I really should be playing the real tag game, or anything that would have me running or getting more physical exercise than my current chasing and transporting my kids regimen), but is stimulating, just the same. It seems to be pretty popular among those who join me in being connected to their computers for escape and amusement purposes, as well as for all the enriching and socially satisfying benefits. I've been blog-tagged by one of my oldest friends.

Here are the rules:

(1) Share 6 non- (though not necessarily un-) important things about yourself on your blog.
(2) Tag 6 blogging friends to then do the same.
(3) Let each person know s/he’s been tagged by leaving a comment on his or her blog.
(4) Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

After much consideration, I decided I’m thinking way too much about which 6 things to write and should just go on and write something already.

FIRST FACTOID:
I use this one whenever we have events where we do one of those getting-to-know-you activities and have to tell a few things that are true about ourselves and some that are not, then others have to guess which are the true statements. No one ever gets this one right.

I paid for much of my college education with a soccer scholarship (of sorts) from our men’s soccer team. Two of my favorite men in the world (Mike "Bert" Berticelli and Chris "Rico" Petrucelli) were our coaches. After I worked for them during my Freshman year, one or both of them arranged for me to receive work-study pay for my job as their statistician and manager. They didn't have to do it; I loved the game, the team, the coaches, and the experience. I didn't ask them to pay me for the work I did, but I'll be forever grateful that they offered. They made all the difference in my life. They allowed me to quit the job I held at a department store, which meant I didn't have to waste all that time driving to a neighboring town to work and be so disconnnected from campus. They gave me not only a way to justify spending all that time at the soccer office/stadium and with the team, but more importantly gave me a kind of confidence and priceless memories that I cannot imagine having built any other way.

The same year I graduated, these coaches moved up from positions as Men's Soccer Head Coach and Men's Soccer Assistant Coach at our college (Old Dominion University) to build successful programs as Men's Soccer Head Coach and Women's Soccer Head Coach at Notre Dame University. They both went on to make soccer - and the world in general - better places in many ways. To me, they'll always be the guys who saw more in me than I saw in myself and who treated me like I could be someone important when they were under no obligation to do so. I've worn my little gold soccer ball charm on my necklace almost every day since Coach Bert gave it to me just before my Senior year.

Here's a link to a poem Coach Mike Berticelli, former Old Dominion University & University of Notre Dame Head Men's Soccer Coach, NSCAA Vice President of Education, and NSCAA Director of Coaching Emeritus wrote about Youth Soccer coaches before his untimely death in 2000:
http://www.rysc.org/mike_berticelli.htm

SECOND THING YOU MAY OR MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW:
I love the ocean. I love learning about and watching ocean animals, studying ocean science, teaching about the ocean, doing ocean-related experiments, sitting next to and listening to the ocean, sorting through seashells, and taking pictures of my kids at the ocean. I think I could watch the ocean churn, roll, and foam for hours on end. I do not, however, enjoy swimming in the ocean. No matter how shallow or deep the water, every minute I'm in the ocean is spent imagining how many of those ocean creatures could possibly be lurking in the murky waters immediately around and below me. I used to love ocean swimming, always marvelling at the power of the swells and waves and the way the tides affect the direction we end up going. Some time in my grown-up years, though, I lost my tolerance for the mystery and the possibilities of things that could invade my personal space. I don't know if it's correlation or causation, but the change seemed to have possibly come around the same time as the summer when I had a horrible case of shingles that followed a nerve around my abdomen and back area, swam in the ocean, and suffered agonizing pain from the sand and salt water rubbing under my swimsuit and into those patches of blisters.



THIRD THING THAT'S ON MY MIND:
I have a kind of love/hate relationship with numbers and patterns. They calm me. When I'm feeling overwhelmed or stressed, a few games of Free Cell or Sudoku will help me step back and feel like I can put things in order. On the other hand, my need for patterns can be nearly paralyzing. I've been known to count the parents standing in a line on sign-up day at school, then move myself back the correct number of people to make sure I get a carpool number or lunch number I can wear without feeling like the Earth is spinning out of control. The last time we got a new cell phone, I literally broke into a cold sweat while we waited for the randomly-assigned phone number to appear on the computer screen. I begged the man to let us change if, just by chance, the new number would be some random jumble of numbers. He first thought I was joking, until he saw how wide my eyes were and how close I was to crying. My current number crisis is the order in which our new health insurance company has assigned our member numbers. They've made my husband first, then put the rest of us in alphabetical order. Dolts. How could they? Don't they know that the universe might split into pieces if, after the main policy-holder, the rest of us are not listed in descending age order?

FOURTH THING, IF YOU'RE STILL WITH ME:
I'm a rule-follower. I stop - fully stop - at all stop signs, even in empty parking lots. In the past, I could not stand to drive at any speed above the posted speed limit. Even now, I gasp if I look at the speedometer and realize I'm driving 5 or more miles per hour over the speed limit. I've been a rule-follower all my life. I have always imagined that my parents know this about me and made sure, when we were young, to ask just the right questions if they needed to know who did what while they were out. I know how to use creative phrasing and answer parts of questions, but if I'm asked a specific question, I will undoubtedly spill the beans.

FIFTH THING I'LL MENTION.
Tomatoes. I don't like them. I want to like them. Every year I think, "This will be the year I like tomatoes!" Then I try them and, lo and behold, I still don't like them. I like looking at those cute little grape tomatoes and putting them on my family members' plates. I like making tomato sandwiches for my husband and daughter. I am fascinated by the big, huge tomatoes where each slice is the same size as a piece of bread. I especially like the kind of sandwich I make for them with toasted cheddar cheese. They look so delicious! You would think I would at least like that kind. I don't. ... Maybe next year?

SIXTH THING (NOT REALLY NON-IMPORTANT, BUT ON MY MIND A LOT THESE DAYS.)
I love musical theatre and performing music. I didn't realize until just recently how much I enjoy it and how much I wish I had not been so painfully shy in my youth. I could have been so much better at it if I had let myself grow to my full potential when I had such instruction available. I grew up in a town where we had opportunities that were hidden gems for the musically or theatrically inclined. Our Fine Arts Center was where I went to ballet and tap classes, tried several art/craft experiments, sang in a Youth Chorale which was led by an outstanding woman and produced several highly-talented individuals, and watched my parents and siblings participate in plays and operettas. (See my previous blog post about "Tradition.") I sang in choir at church for most of my life, as well, which probably started because my mother was the choir director for much of the time.

Our show choir director and our theater teacher in high school ran programs in which I consider myself lucky to have been able to participate. What fun! What culture! What a creative learning ground I had available! During my college years, however, I only participated in one bit of musical theatre. My then-boyfriend/now-husband is blond and I had some experience with singing/acting, so we signed up to earn extra credit by participating in our Theater Arts professor's production of "Cabaret" in the local community theatre. Through that venue, we met a unique and extraordinary group of people. That was an experience I would never trade! Oh, the stories we could tell!

Our family's more recent theatrical venues have been infinitely less - um - seedy. For several years, we did more watching of musicals - from "The Lion King" and "Mama Mia" on Broadway (and "The Lion King" Broadway tour in Atlanta) to various high school and puppet performances of "The Wizard of Oz." (I even found out that one of my former students is currently a character in Disney's touring version of Lion King!) We all sang, danced, and acted together for the first time when we dipped our toes into the waters of theater again and participated in a historical reenactment kind of pageant two summers ago. The soundtrack was pre-recorded, but we did spend many hours in the car practicing the songs so we would look like we were singing the right things and so our fellow actors wouldn't be driven away when we sang along during the show. (That Pageant, "The Promised Land", is growing and now moving to an outdoor theatre a few hours away from us. We're planning to audition for it, though, and will be using this coming summer's vacation time to participate in it. http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-c-2009-02-04-231685.112112_New_owners_breathe_life_into_deserted_amphitheater.html) We also accompanied our oldest son while he did the Trek this last summer. (It's a pioneer reenactment/ challenging journey kind of thing that youth in our church have the opportunity to participate in every few years.) We didn't follow him and his wagon, but the rest of us were actors that he and the other groups encountered in vignettes along the way. Through our Church associations, too, I ended up adapting the script and songs, then singing and acting in an inspiring production of The Parable of the Ten Virgins. That experience was a standout moment in my life.


We got fully back into actually participating in musical theatre slowly, and originally to satisfy our middle son's passion. He has always been a charmer and entertainer, full of wit and will. When we moved to NC, we were looking for something for him to do that would help him adjust to the new area and find something he loves here. He did a few plays with FACT (Franklinton Area Community Theatre), but we really wanted to sign him up with a children's theatre camp/group a friend runs. We finally made that leap this past summer. He had such fun acting in Willy Wonka, Jr. that his older brother decided to try it, too, when they did Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. (Again, see previous posts on Tradition and Another Op'nin.) By the time they did School House Rock, Jr., we were fully committed and I had a new job!

Saying that I'm working again outside of our home is quite a big thing for our family. Aside from the fact that I can provide the boys with this cultural experience and the family with a bit of extra income, I'm also able to use my teaching degree some and my love for expression through art and music. (The reasons I left teaching involve more than just the birth of our first son, but the PTSD/anxiety are a whole other tag subject I won't go into at this time.) I'm now able to spend major quality time with all three of my boys, as the young son has even joined us in our current production. I can't think of any way I would rather spend their childhood and my time. My youngest child, my daughter, is even being exposed to the theatre in a way that is quite similar to my experiences with my parents' plays when I was little. She spends hours at the theatre with me, watching me create and transform sets, hiding-and-seeking in magical corners, and singing and learning everyone's lines along the way. (She's fully prepared to step in as understudy for any of 4 characters in the current show, should some emergency arise where we'd need a 4-year-old to fill in.) I hope this turns out to be as much of a treasure to her as my memories are to me!

We are celebrating "SnObama" Day.

Here in our little corner of the South, today was a day like no other. After all, it snowed! I find it fitting that our area got more snow today than it has in at least 5 years, more snow than it has in any of the years I have lived here. Coincidentally, the history of our country changed today. How fortunate that my kids have something to crystallize the event in their memories. Our world was blanketed and has emerged anew.



My oldest son's January 18th comment about the man we would see inaugurated as our 44th President gave me serious pause. (He is the one who decided we should call today "SnObama Day", but that's not the comment to which I'm referring.) He said, "I don't see why people are getting so worked up about it, Mom. Isn't he just a guy?" I felt suddenly awash with the conflicting emotions, among others, of satisfaction and confusion.

I've been wondering, lately, if I've done a decent job of teaching my kids about racial issues, especially in the context of our history and our country. I've always tried to teach them that everyone in the world is equally important to our Father in Heaven, regardless of race, financial situation, religion, lifestyle, location, or any other differentiating factor. (As a parent, of course, I think my own kids are the most amazing and valuable people on the planet. What I'm talking about here is something different.) I cannot say that I have wanted them to be "colorblind", but instead that I want them to know that every person's heritage is a treasure - a story to be valued and even celebrated. The phrase they will tell you that I repeat to them is that no one in the world is any better than they are, just as they are no better than anyone else. I want them to value the history and heritage that comes along with each different person, but not prejudge. I want them to believe that they have just as much potential, right, and responsibility to do great works as any other person does.

"Only a people does it." It's a phrase I grew up hearing. Way back in the 1970's, my parents put down a vinyl floor in one room in our house - fitting, cutting, and placing it on their own. My mother was somewhat proud of their accomplishment and told her mother about it. Grandmother said, "You did it?" Mother replied that she had. Grandmother said, "Only a people does it." Mother tells me that she meant that if other people could do it, there was no reason they couldn't. Although it had the potential of deflating my parents' pride in their accomplishment at that moment, our family has used the phrase over time to remind us that there is no reason that we cannot accomplish whatever we decide we want to accomplish. I guess I come by it naturally.

Today, we played in the snow. We made snow angels, threw snowballs, tried to build a snowman (the snow was too powdery to build much more than a lump with sticks poking out of its sides), rode boogie boards and sleds down snowy hills, and then came in the house to see history in the making. Today, we watched a man rise to the high office of President of the United States of America. In a country where he once would have been valued as less than a human because of the blood that runs in his veins or the place where his father was born, we saw a man fulfill the dreams of thousands. Today, we bowed our heads over our lunch of soup and hot cocoa while our new President and our nation's leaders bowed their heads over an inaugural luncheon.




In the words of Reverend Lowery, "(Let all) who do justice and love mercy say amen, say amen, and amen!"

We are enjoying the heat!

Just a quick note for those who are concerned and in expression of gratitude to those who have lent us their prayers and support: The heat is on! Woo hoo!

We are having "another op'nin' of another show"!

First, I have to admit that I am late in updating the blog this month. My tardiness has a lot to do with those fleas I was thinking about last month, most directly the fleas of my husband's drastically increased travel schedule (which comes along with the blessing of a new job & paycheck) and the flea of the increased demands on my time (which comes along with the blessing of a job for me with a bit of a paycheck, a creative outlet, and special time spent with my kids.) One of those topics now leads me to today's blog entry title.

We opened another show! This one was a bit different because I have been the official assistant director. This is my new job! During "Fiddler" practices (see the Tradition blog entry) I was staying at the theatre to conserve gas and gas money, then helping with the painting because I could and because my friend (the theatre owner) needed the help. This time I had more definite hours, more specific duties, and the bonus of a bit of pay. As with the first show, though, the most valuable thing the boys and I have gained is time spent in the car and at home as we sing together, discuss ideas about their acting choices, and talk about my memories of growing up during the 70's.

The 70's theme is a direct result of the play the kids are putting on: "Schoolhouse Rock, Jr." What a surprisingly fun show! We seriously considered not signing up for this session because we weren't really sure how Schoolhouse Rock could be turned into a play, but we are so happy we did it! Amazingly, the theatre owner/director was able to adapt the script to include solos for all 16 principal cast members. Having recently worked on adapting a script myself (for our women's group's - Relief Society - depiction of the Parable of the Ten Virgins) to accomodate the talents and needs of 12 women, I have a healthy respect and admiration for Miss Debbie's dedication to showcasing the talents of so many kids in one show.

Here is a picture of S1 at practice. His hair is almost as long as the girls' hair around him, but he's clearly the boy in this shot.



Here he is in his costume, just about to go on stage. (We tried slicking his hair back to make it look kind of like Danny Zuko's. I think I should have used more gel and less wax.)



Here's S2 (in the red shirt) running through his part during practice while the director shows the rest of the cast what to do as they face and respond to his character.



Here he is in his costume. How fun is this Mr. Kotter wig?! What a good sport he was!



Here they are with the main characters in the cast. The chorus kids were wearing tie-dyed shirts and fun jeans, but weren't in this shot because we wanted a closer picture of the main group.



Here's a kind of fuzzy shot of our family after the version of this show where my boys were in the chorus.



Some fun shots from the cast party. Along with other music, the kids like to sing and dance to songs they've done in previous shows. Some kids have been doing shows at this theatre for 6 years and dozens of shows, so there are always lots of requests.




Here's a shot of my work as it progressed:



Here's the way the set looked the way I preset the main area just before the show started:

This is my mural of the Capitol building in Washington, DC.:

It's always a little bit heart-breaking to paint over the last show's scenery, but then it's exciting to start designing and see if I'm able to make the new set make sense. Before long, I guess we'll see what I need to paint to help bring "Beauty and the Beast" to life for the kids!

We will be thankful - even for the fleas in life!

Corrie ten Boom's story The Hiding Place contains one of my favorite reminders about the Lord's direction to us to be thankful, as much for the annoying or even painful parts of life as for the blissful times. Her sister insists on giving thanks in her concentration camp prayers, even for the fleas with which they must contend in their barracks. The sisters eventually came to learn that the fleas were what kept their captors out of their barracks, thus giving the devoted pair the opportunity to read and study the Bible together. Corrie's sister had told her to be thankful, even for the fleas; her life was forever blessed for those fleas!

So we're acknowledging our family's "fleas", but we are going to continue to give thanks for them. Some of them bring blessings we can feel and see right away; some will take more patience and faith than others. All will be for our overall experience and eventual good ... we hope.

So let's talk about the relatively little, more tangible things first.

* Our cars. Grrr. Fleas, both of them! Imagine me in the rain, running back and forth from side to side of the car, trying to get the key to work in just one of the locks. Imagine my 4 kids waiting for me to get any one door open so we can squish into the car, where the heat may or may not be working but will surely not be working well, the door-open indicator light will stay on even if I've re-slammed and checked every door, and countless other non-inspection-passing problems will loom. None of this even takes into the account the fact that this car is quite painful for me to even sit in, much less drive. My back issues scream at me the entire time I'm sitting in this car. But at least we have it. We have a second car to cover us when the minivan won't start (which it has been doing quite often - so much so that we had to further stretch our budget to include the purchase of a new battery) and when the daddy needs to take the minivan on one of his many out-of-town scheduled work trips. We are definitely blessed to have a mechanic who we love and trust and who will work our needs into his hectic schedule so often!

* It's been unusually cold here in the last couple of weeks. Nights have been in the low 30's until this week. Several days didn't get a whole lot warmer. We haven't had any heat in our house, unfortunately. Friends at church offered to help us pay for someone to fix it when they heard about the situation, but we decided it's really not such a bad thing for our boys to know that hard times can actually be hard and that we don't always get what ever we want right when we want it and just because we want it. We've just been bundling up more, sitting a little closer to each other, and being thankful for the more normal weather we've had this week.


Then there are some less tangible, but deeply impactful situations for us to deal with.


* I took a job! I'm working at the theatre where the boys are performing. It's also run by my friend, so my friend and fellow church member is also my boss. I'm the assistant director in the current play (which started a few weeks ago and will wrap up on December 20th - and I take it on like I have nothing at all to do with my time during this particular season. Lol.) I do get some income and I also get BOTH of the boys' tuitions included - woo hoo! I also love the time I get in the car with my big boys. Most of it is spent singing together or talking about things they are very happy about, which is priceless time when they're such grumpy adolescents on a regular basis. My schedule is horrifyingly overwhelming these days, but I'm hoping the boys will one day know that I put in all this time and work to give them the gift of this experience.

I get the right of first refusal for the next play, too, which is going to be AWESOME. We just recently applied for all 3 of the boys to be in that one. This theater thing seems to be infectious - in a good way. More about this job's effect on our lives in a moment.

* Another good news-bad news thing is that my husband got a new job! He's excited about this company and that's a good thing. I want him to love what he does, you know? They can't match his last salary, but we're hoping that other benefits and the possible bonus will make it at least comparable. The company is based in our neighboring state and he'll have to travel there and throughout his territory regularly, but he'll be based out of our home. His territory is every state between NC and TX that touches water. Clearly, he's going to be gone a whole lot more. None of us is very thrilled about that.

That takes me back to my job thing. With the dad being gone more, I'm trying to figure out how to do MY job without having my two younger kids become too much of a nuisance at the theatre. I will have to take them with me some nights. This should be an interesting juggling act! As I wonder which would be the fleas in this case - my kids or the job - I realize I'm going to have to say neither, actually, since I wouldn't wish away either my kids or this opportunity under any circumstances I can imagine. I'm glad I've at least temporarily got the option to take the kids with me sometimes when I do this job.

* I'm also giving a lot of time and energy to a play we're doing at church. We'll be performing for the women's groups (called Relief Society) from my ward (church members who go at the same time I do and live in the same geographical zone) and my SIL's ward. It's the biggest deal of the year for us, and the biggest production we've ever tried to pull off. We're going to do a portrayal of the parable of the Ten Virgins. I've adapted and rewritten the script twice already, cast 11 parts, and dealt with 12 women's needs, schedules, and feelings. I'm also going to be acting and doing the first solo I've ever sung in front of this large of a group. Although it's emotionally and physically taxing, I think the spiritual rewards will be worth the work.

Every glass is both half-filled AND half-empty, right? Even glasses that are almost empty have something to offer. Glasses that are empty once held something that can be remembered and appreciated.

We are building a TRADITION!

Phrases I never would have guessed I'd say to my boys:

"Stay in the car and sing, boys, while I run in and buy you some lipstick."

"You didn't have enough mascara on last night, son. We'll have to put on 2 layers tonight."

"Do you prefer the long-wearing lipstick, or just the lipliner?"

Based on our activities over the last few weeks, the list could go on and on, but you can get the general idea from these statements. No, I'm not teaching my boys how to properly and tastefully apply daily make-up. I have been putting make-up on them, however - to more than a mild amount of protest on their parts! Stage make-up was a requirement, though, as the boys have starred in a local children's theater workshop production of "Fiddler on the Roof, Jr." My oldest son (we'll call him S1) portrayed Tevye and S2 (I bet you figured it out already, but I'll point out that this means my second son) played the tailor Motel Kamzoil (or Camzoil, depending on the source.)

S2 as Motel (rhymes with bottle)

S1 as Tevye - before beard. (We put the beard on him at the last possible moment so the tape and spirit gum wouldn't irritate his skin any more than necessary.)

Words can hardly express what this experience has meant to our family! In fact, there's no way I could properly document every feeling and important moment that has transpired, but the whole thing has been such a blessing for us that I have to try to get some of it described in writing.

Let me say now that my siblings and I grew up in a town where we were lucky enough to have an amazing Fine Arts Center. We attended dance, drama, and art classes there over the years, but mainly the three youngest of us (my next older sister, my youngest brother and I) were part of the Youth Chorale and our parents performed in several Broadway-quality operettas. At a young age and over several years, I watched my parents participate in such exciting productions as "Mikado", "H.M.S. Pinafore", "The Wizard of Oz", and "Fiddler on the Roof" from plush theater seats, as well as from the wings and storage areas off to the sides of the stage.

Here is a shot my brother recently dug up. He and I are on the front row of these groovy singing kids. I don't know when this was taken exactly, but it had to be some time in the 70's.

Here is a shot of (my younger brother along with) my dad as he practiced for his part as Lazar Wolf. He played this part in "Fiddler on the Roof" beautifully, even growing the only beard I ever remember seeing on his face so that he would look authentic. (At the time, I was about the age that my S2 is now.)

Of course, to me, my daddy was always Tevye. When Tevye sang about his little bird, it was supposed to be Daddy singing about me. When Hodel sang to Tevye, it was supposed to be my song to my dad. My mother was part of one of the families (they grouped the whole cast into families, except for Daddy because his character being a widower is an integral part of the story), but I knew she had a more operatic, leading lady voice than anyone else on the stage. I went to most of the rehearsals and watched the whole show - 11 magical, sold out performances - from the wings.

The significance of this story in our lives didn't end when that production closed. When I was married, we had a ring ceremony at our church building. My parents sang "Sunrise, Sunset" during that ceremony for us. They also sang it at my dear friend's wedding. (This friend is so special to me that her name is one of my daughter's middle names.)

Twelve years later, when our family was moving from Georgia (relatively reachable from NC) to California (where we thought we'd live for the rest of our lives - too far for most of my NC family to travel), my father quoted to me from this story. He reminded me that when Hodel is going off to Siberia to be with her intended, she says, "Papa, God alone knows when we'll ever see each other again." Then Tevye responds, "Then we will leave it in His hands." Daddy had had a stroke several years ago and was no longer a big traveller, so he knew he'd never fly out to CA. He was telling me the same thing Tevye told his daughter. I still cry when I hear the song from this scene, knowing it echoes the way I've followed my husband through all these moves, as well as the indescribable bond between my father and me. Just writing about it makes me have to swallow a new lump in my throat.

So now this tradition of ours has come full circle. S2 has been an actor in several musical productions both at his previous school and in theater groups. S1, however, is the athlete and Scout leader in the family, so I was more than a little bit surprised when he announced that he was interested in joining this camp. Not only did he want to participate, but he wanted to audition for the role of Tevye! My surprise only grew when he opened his mouth and sang BASS at auditions, making him the only child in the cast of 24 kids who does not have a soprano voice. For him to find his voice at this time and for BOTH of my older boys to be participating in this production of this particular play right now is heart-warming beyond words.

In case you're wondering, I was at the auditions because I'd volunteered to paint the set. (When you see the set's artwork in the backgrounds of pictures, that's my work!) We are conserving gas as much as possible these days, so I wanted to make myself useful while I was waiting for the boys during practices. Once I started helping, I discovered how much I enjoyed being involved in that artistic outlet! I loved working with the adults who made the play possible, as well as with all the talented kids. On the boys' audition night, I had to choke back tears and hide blushes of pride as my two boys sang and acted their hearts out, earning them the roles they'd wanted and the roles for which their individual personalities could not possibly be better suited. Neither of them is ready for Broadway just yet, of course, but they both put their whole efforts into getting these parts!

Here are my boys with my parents. Tradition, tradition... TRADITION!

Opening night was S1's first time on stage, in front of an audience, delivering lines (and lines and lines!) of dialogue and performing solos. My sister was able to attend that night, as well as some girls from S1's class at church. I suppose I should have warned him that the girls were in the audience. He didn't miss a beat when he saw his aunt in her seat, but the sight of the girls made him forget an entire line of dialogue. He recovered his character quickly, though, and finished the play wonderfully.

S2 never seems to be nervous about going on stage. (This attribute he does not get from me!) This character, in particular, was quite natural for him to portray. His comedic timing was especially helpful. His only opening night blunder was forgetting to put the wedding ring on Tzeitl, his bride. (He is still a pre-adolescent and a boy, after all.) The rest of his missteps and near-falls were scripted, or at least planned in advance.

The boys with their aunt (my sister):


S1 with those (distractingly cute) young women:


Last night, for their second performance, my boys had 10 family members in the audience! Since the entire place holds only slightly more than 60 audience members, it's clear that our family had a great showing. The show was especially exciting for me because it was the first time I sat down and watched the whole play from the audience section instead of on the green room monitor or from some painting position. My husband, S3, and D4 were finally able to come see the show they'd heard rehearsed so many times at home. My brother and his wife practically moved mountains to find a sitter for their young daughters so they could be at the theater for this performance. Two of my nieces were also there - one who is 5 and loves to watch Topol's version of the play on DVD, and one who is her high school's Student Body President and delegated one of her responsibilities at their football game so that she could not only watch and support her cousins, but also drive my disabled parents to the show! (I know this is an improperly long sentence, but that grammatical structure helps to show how much we recognize and appreciate her sacrifice.) It is nearly impossible to get our extended family in one place at one time any more, so the boys were thrilled to be able to share this experience with so many of their relatives over these two days!

The whole bunch at the play last night:

Since this cast puts on only two shows before they all switch parts and perform two more times in different roles (except for S2, since the cast is slightly short of boys to fill all the boy character slots), the second night of the play (last night) was closing night for S1's Tevye. It's a bittersweet time around our house today. He hummed and subtly danced the Bottle Dance as he stepped onto the field at his soccer game this morning. (I note here that this was an early game - an early game a little over 1/2 hour away from home, no less, and he'd insisted on going to the ice cream place with the cast the night before. Oy!) As we walked back to the car after his team had won their game (woo hoo!), he had already begun to sing, "If I Were a Rich Man." We talked on the way home about the mix of feelings actors and crew experience any time a play ends. I think my oldest son and I have talked more, and more deeply, during this last 1&1/2 months than we did for the entire several months preceding it. That development, alone, is priceless to me!

In an increasingly difficult time for my family, this play has surely been an indescribably special experience for us! (You'd get a kick out of my boys and me singing along with the soundtrack as we drive all over town for the various things we do. My 4-year-old daughter can even sing "If I Were a Rich Man" most of the way through!) What an inspiration! What a blessing! What a gift! What a TRADITION!