A High School Musical Made My Day

While this blog is supposed to be about writing, tonight it's not. I should amend that to say this morning, but no one really cares, do they? Great!

Earlier this evening, Chris and I attended her daughter, Emma's play, Grandmother in tow. To say that I was dreading the evening would be an understatement. I've had to listen to Emma for the last month, dragging in late every night from a rehearsal or a production meeting or something else related to her school's performance of "Peter Pan." Ugh! Emma's complaints were varied and numerous, so I won't get into all of them, but suffice it to say, she set me up to expect nothing short of a total train wreck of a musical.

Joy of joys, such was not the case.

Now, I'm what you might call a "musical queen." Except, you know, that lesbian thing. But "musical butch" just doesn't work. Anyway, I like musicals, a lot, but not this one. It's just, well, random. There's not much to the story, and the music isn't great, but once I saw those kids, Emma included, flying through the air over the stage, I was done for. Hokey, yes, but there was something about watching that beautiful young woman as she sailed in from the wings, landing in a display of grace in the middle of the stage, all alone, that almost knocked the wind out of me. She didn't have a lot of lines, she really didn't have much to do at all, but the quiet elegance of that simple landing made my night.

And if that wasn't enough, I opened the program to the cast biographies and found this: "Emma wants to thank her Mom, her Diane, and her boyfriend Tommy for all of their love and support." Needless to say, I was a goner.

So, I guess what I'm really trying to say is this: To Emma, I know we've had a rough patch or two, and have said some really unkind things to one another, but you made me so proud tonight. You're such a lovely young woman, and your love and support mean just as much to me. Thank you.