Monday Madness-Almost Misadvent!

Well, Dear Readers, I would like to start this out with,"You will NEVER believe what I did...". But if you've been reading this for any amount of time, you will know that I'm not always the best at keeping everything together. 

Last night was the Ladies Advent by Candlelight at the church. It's a larger event, about 650-700 women in attendance. On this night, we all gather for a program that reflects the journey of Advent (the time leading up to Christmas Day) and focuses on the arrival of Christ as a newborn baby. Afterwards, we all go downstairs to enjoy coffee and dessert at tables which we host. We're in charge of decorating the table as we desire, bringing our own china and dessert and whatever we choose to make the evening enjoyable. It's a beautiful evening, and tickets sell out usually within the first week. 
This year I was in charge of the music portion of the program. When they asked, I immediately set to work and called my friend/mentor Jacque DeShetler to be our featured guest. We spent about 2 months planning and preparing the evening. So you would THINK I would have all the details down, right? I had the program all mapped out, my dress and jewelry thought through, got to the church at 2:30 to set up my table, rehearsal at 3:00. At 6:00, I'm speaking with the program coordinator and women start to file into the sanctuary, perfectly dressed in their Christmas finery... I'm standing there in my YOGA PANTS and TSHIRT and I'm thinking,"Wow. These ladies are going to sit for 40 minutes and wait for the PREservice music?" I turned to Julie and said,"Uhm, what time do we start again?" 
"6:30," she replied.
"You mean the preservice music, right?"
"Uhm, no, Melissa. The PROGRAM begins at 6:30. The preservice music (of which I was doing) begins in ten minutes."
Good thing I had my running shoes on! 
I ran into the back to tell the others the news. And in less than ten minutes I changes into a cocktail dress, pulled my hair up, makeup and heels and walked onto the stage. And when I asked Julie about it she says,"I thought you were just really chilled. I had no idea you were confused."


CLEARLY.


Yours, thinking I'll triple check all the details next gig!


Melissa

He's a Good Elephant

You all know I'm a musician. One of my current gigs is an Arts School in town and we just finished our production of Seussical the Musical. I somehow managed to talk my husband into bringing the kids last night. We figured it's time for them to be able to start sitting through something besides a TV show or school. And since the musical was a shortened version of the Broadway production (cut down to 1:10 as opposed to 1:45), I thought this might be a good place to start.

I love being a musician and entertainer. At the core of it, I love it because music, theater, art, whatever media you are working with has the inherent ability to move something on the inside of people. And if you are lucky, you might inspire someone or make them stop and think. And if you are really working hard at it, you just might take people on a journey and let them forget life for awhile.

I just didn't expect to get to do that with my OWN kids.

They slipped in last night as the curtain was coming up. From what I gather, Z2 sang along almost the entire time. Apparently she has "relocated" the Seussical CD to her CD player and has learned all the music. And in the scene where Gertrude McFuzz eats the berries from the pillberry bush to grow her tail, Z2 whispered (think soft roar) to everyone around her,"MY mom made that bush! She did! That's her at the piano! See her? That's MY mom!"

Yes, plenty of giggles ensued.

When I got home last night, Z1 was still awake. I asked him what he thought and he said,"Mom, I want to be Horton one day. He's a good man. Well, good elephant."

Yes, the flowers I got last night are beautiful. The applause, I'll admit, I loved it. And it's wonderful to hear how much people liked it and appreciated our hard work. Working with other peoples' kids- mostly rewarding.

But when you make your own kids proud, when you take them on an adventure, when you stop and make them think without a lecture or some form of discipline, when you connect with what's on the inside of them, that's better than anything else I can think of.

Yours, relishing the rewards of such an unexpected adventure,

Melissa