two kids to go

Henry and Nora are really getting used to life on the go. Today they were very... maybe too very... comfortable at play practice. Nora has found a friend, and potential babysitter (Yes!!) to help her with her homework and Henry is now comfortable enough there to roam around and discover what the stage area is like. (Never beyond eyesight though.)

It is a serious decision to take on something like directing the play when I have two small kids. Actually, the money becomes somewhat negligible when the time required is so much. For me it has become a decision of experience. Is this a good thing to submit my kids to. That is what pushed me over the edge this year. I love the kids that are part of the play. I love the atmosphere (most of the time). I especially love the little communal group that can sometimes grow out of doing this. I have seen hints of it here and there this year, but not a serious bonding like my first year yet.

Johanna has them dancing before I get there: contra dancing. I love walking into that. I love that all of these kids, that can sometimes be loners, are all involved and unafraid to touch each other. I know that sounds kinda sketchy, but I do mean it. It is a big thing for me. In the beginning, I wanted Henry involved with dance. I still do really, but he is not really going that way. I want him unafraid to be close, to know that he is OK and that people don't shun him for any reason and for him to spread that kind of acceptance to other people. This is what I find at play practice, a bunch of teenagers that transcend the awful barriers that sometimes they put up. That actually reach out in spite of class brackets and those cliche' and impossibly stratifying cliques at high school. I think that that was my most powerful discovery at my first experience with theater: these kids were selected by me, they didn't choose this group, and they became a group of close friends. Watching that process was more than beautiful.

This cast is big. The play is somewhat isolating in its portrayal of characters (If it isn't your scene, you aren't on stage). The big crunch hasn't really hit yet either, so there is time for stress and bonding to come. I want Henry and Nora to see this blend of people. Its the only thing that I think "Glee" got right. That ragtag "breakfast club" assortment of kids becoming a little closer does really exist. It is my privilege to see it and be a part of it. That is what I want my kids to see and why I directed the play this year. And I guess that makes it ok that the kids didn't step foot in our house until 7:45 that night and that we had to swing my Mcdonalds for supper? Well... I hope it does any way.