Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

I took the girls to see Charlotte's Web over at Aledo High School last night. I'm impressed at the quality of the productions that the school puts on. The girls both really enjoyed it. It was quite a bit shorter than Peter Pan , which was nice as it was a school night. Anna loves staying around after the show and getting autographs from the actors, and they in turn love signing. The two plays we've attended this year have had younger children playing roles that a high schooler would probably be too big for. One of the little "baby spiders" was a girl who sits next to Alyssa in her mainstream 3rd grade class. I have found it is nearly impossible to take Alyssa out in public without someone she knows - a teacher or classmate or therapist or aide - seeing us and saying "Hi." Alyssa, of course, always hides. I've thought it might be good for Anna to audition for a kid's role in one of the school's upcoming productions, but I abandoned that idea ...

Anna loved her acting class at Casa Manana this spring, so after a summer of agonizing I decided to go ahead and sign her up for a fall class, despite the cost. She's a good kid, and I think she needs this creative outlet. I signed her up over the internet, which is the only way to register for their classes. Unfortunately, the sign-up web site is not real time, and I got a call the next day saying that all of the classes for Anna's age group were full, and would they like me to put her on the waiting list? My heart sank. If I had just signed her up when the registration started instead of waiting and worrying! I had them put her on the list, and explained the situation to Anna. She took it well, thank goodness. Classes started this week, so not having received a call I figured we were out of luck. Then yesterday afternoon at 3:50, I got a call from the theater school director. The classes were all still full, but the lady who taught Anna's class in the spring saw her name ...

We got an email yesterday telling Anna that she was not cast in the Miracle Worker . It was a very kind rejection note with good, constructive feedback. Neither Anna nor I were surprised or upset by the news. It could have been a grueling schedule, especially if I actually end up traveling for work this summer. As it turns out, though, it was a good (inexpensive) learning experience in many, many ways.

Contrary to popular belief, I have not decided to just rest on my laurels now that I have 100 posts in my blog. Quite the opposite, actually. This week has been among the busiest in a long time. The irony is that with so much to write about, there is so little time to write. One of the big things to happen this week was Anna's audition for a part in the Miracle Worker at the Artisan Center Theater . This is not the same theater where she had her class, and it is actually kind of far away - 30 miles or so. But I came across the announcement for the audition, and I thought Anna would really enjoy it. If nothing else, the process of auditioning would be very good for her. I gave her the audition notice to read, and I expected her to be very excited and jump all over the opportunity. Instead, she was very unenthusiastic, which I didn't really understand. I finally talked her in to auditioning. We went for the open auditions on Wednesday night, and nearly got washed away by a tremen...

Anna's Tuesday started out the way it usually does - with a CD playing in her clock radio. For the last few days, it's been Elmo. I heard her moving around, and heard Elmo singing, and was concerned, because my alarm hadn't gone off yet, and I'm supposed to be up half an hour before the girls, so I can get breakfast and lunch ready.I checked my cell phone/alarm clock to see why that was. The clock said 12:14 am. By the time I got to the girl's room, Anna was halfway dressed, and had already been in the office to check her email. Alyssa was fortunately still asleep. A quick look at the clock showed that alarm 2 had gotten turned on, and was still set to the default 12:00 am. Why does the alarm always default to 12:00 am? Why not 6:00 am? That would make more sense. Anyway, I convinced Anna that it was NOT in fact time to get up, and she should go back to sleep. She informed me that the internet wasn't working, and could I please fix it. No. At least, not until a...

Last night I took the girls to see Peter Pan at Aledo High School. I was quite impressed by the timing and precision and dead-on execution. And then when we got to the school, the play was really good, too. It was one of those evenings where the plan, though workable, had nearly a dozen potential points of failure. But, almost miraculously, everything came together. (Cue the A-Team theme...) The first thing that needed to happen was for Alyssa to have a nap, or she'd be sleeping on me through the whole play. It was a cold, snowy afternoon, and I knew that would help. Anna commented that she could probably use a rest, too, although she didn't want to take one. Big mistake on her part. Alyssa will sometimes just climb in bed on her own, but most afternoons she's too worried that she'll miss out on the fun, so she gets back up again. I gave her a little while to wind down before I tucked her in, and she requested that Anna come in the room with her. That usually helps her ...

Yesterday was Anna's first class at Casa Manana, a theater in Fort Worth that offers a variety of classes. Her big gift for Christmas was a n acting class, and when she finally figured out what it was, I thought she was going to cry. She was very excited, and I was excited for her. She really needs this creative outlet. To get to the class on time, we have to leave as soon as the kids are off the bus. In order to do that, I had to work straight through, without a chance to go to the ATM and get cash for parking. Since the theater is even closer to the Stock Show than the Science Museum, I was sure their lot would have sprouted a toll booth, too (see yesterdays post). Anna had mentioned that she had several dollars, so I asked her to go and get it. I had a buck and some change, so I figured we could scrape together $6, just in case. Anna showed up with a handful of coins - no paper money. So I got a jar and filled it with enough quarters, nickels and dimes to get us a spot, hoping a...