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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Guys and Dolls




Last evening I went to the friends and family spring production at my boys' high school.  They (and my husband) have been working for the last two months on the tech crew getting ready for this.  This was their final dress rehearsal before opening night (tonight).

I don't think I've ever been more proud of a group of kids in my life.  They did Guys and Dolls which, you may recall, involves a lot of quick dialog and A LOT of singing and dancing.  It was so good that there were times I forgot I was watching a high school production!  I mean...I know these kids, but they totally embodied their characters and made me forget it was them!

The boys have this one friend who is extremely talented and seems to always get the lead in these productions.  The kid is slight, a little on the skinny side, painfully shy and lacks self confidence...until he steps on stage.  Not only can the boy (young man) sing, dance and act, he has stage presence and sex appeal for DAYS.  Sex appeal!?  From a 17 year old kid!? He was certainly channeling his inner Brando.

Anyway, I digress.

The point of this post was two fold.  First I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the production, how proud I am of my kids and how much talent there is in that one little school here in the south of the United States.

Secondly I wanted to say how grateful I am.  To sit in these things and not think about getting it over with so that I can go home and drink actually makes me giddy when I think about it.  I've seen three of the school's productions (Inspecting Carol, Pippen and now Guys and Dolls), but at least one of my boys has been in that school for the last five years - and they put on two productions per year.  Where have I been? 

I'll tell you where I've been - home with my ass in a chair in my room watching TV and drinking Chardonnay.  What a frickin waste of time!!!  I can remember my boys asking me to go.  I remember my husband going without me.  I am so embarrassed that I missed it.  And sad...very, very sad.  I can't even imagine what my kids were thinking when I said, "I don't want to go to a high school play.  I mean, if you guys were IN it or were on the tech crew or something then maybe I'd go." 

Are you fucking kidding me?  Maybe that's why they joined tech after all - crap. Guess I'll be making amends later in my Step process for that one.  I keep coming up with new ones out of the blue...my list will be a mile long before I'm done.

Anyway...NOW I am so happy and I feel so free and I'm feeling the joy of these moments.  If you're wondering if giving up drinking and entering recovery is worth it...I'm here to tell you...hell yes!

"One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider." ~ Sky Masterson, Guys and Dolls 

5 comments:

  1. Fun! I look forward to those productions when my boys are older. So great. Loving your constant unwavering gratitude xxx

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  2. Aside from someday making ammends, you can let go of looking back at the "bad old days" because your boys aren't thinking about that, they are thinking about the mom they have now, the one that is sober and rocks! I'm glad you had such a great time, it sounds like some phenomenal talent was there!

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  3. Sounds like a great time. You're there now, and I'm sure your family is delighted.

    You should read Trina's story here: http://www.todaysstep.com/stories.html -- it might really inspire you.

    Best wishes...

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  4. What a marvellous experience, glad to hear they did such a great job (all the cred to these kids) and you got to really enjoy it :))

    Soooo HAPPY that you're happy and FREE! Enjoy your Friday you wonderful woman!

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  5. I'm glad you were able to enjoy your soberiety. It's more fun (I am NOT channeling Mary Poppins) when you see things clearly.

    =) =) =)

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