Catching My Breath
2004-05-17,

Finally, a chance to stop and write something. This has been one of the crazier months I've had in a long time. How to begin?

First off, rehearsals have been going along nicely. After my idiocy attack, all has been well. Sure, sitting through someone else singing the solo I gave away isn't much fun (especially after you hear how good it sounds with the orchestra behind it), but I'll live through it. It'll be interesting to see how well this show comes together by Friday, when it opens.

Speaking of shows, the four of us went on Saturday to tryouts for The Music Man. Yes, even Simon. None of us are expecting any major roles, mainly because there's not much in the show characterwise into which any of us would fit very well. So be it. I'd just as soon have a relaxing part that doesn't take up my whole summer. As this'll be our last yee-hah summer for quite a while, I'd like to take advantage.

Anyway, tryouts went better than expected. Heather did well, of course; I did well, naturally; Hil san very nicely. She's got a nicer voice than she lets on; hopefully this experience will get her to use it more. Then there's Simon. He did the group dance tryout portion quite well for his age, mainly I think because we were up there doing it with him (somehow we missed out on the fact that they'd split up the tryout days for kids and adults, so H and I ended up trying out amongst a group of 1st-4th graders - which is pretty much where we belong, anyway). Then Simon's turn came to sing, and he went into meltdown mode. He'd been working himself up all day over the tryout, and he freaked, lead off crying from the stage.

But all was not lost. We managed to calm him down and, between my magic and H's quick thinking, got him inspired to give it another go. He got back just as his group had finished trying out. He got up there, announced his name and what he was singing, and Lo and Behold, he did it. Sang really well, though not with much projection (he's still learning, after all). His reading part was tremendous, reading 2 paragraphs from The Hobbit with only one read through beforehand. The director seemed genuinely surprised that he was only in 1st grade. We were all very proud of him for getting over his fear and doing his thing.

So he's not going to be singing, "Gary, Indiana" for the show. But chances are he'll be in it in even some small way, and that'll be great for his confidence. I think the folks running the show definitely saw some potential in him for future productions. All in all, a great experience for the family.

The same cannot be said for the 'family' experience involving the ex and his woman over the last week or so. But I shall not go over that here, so as not to leave anything that might be used in a bad light later on. Suffice to say, it's been a rough week in the communication front between halves of the parental units.

Our home study visit got delayed by a week, so it's going to happen this Wednesday instead. I'm actually OK with that, because it's given me the chance to try and finish up on finishing the kitchen floor. Otherwise, the house has stayed pretty darn clean. Mainly cos we haven't been home much to get it dirty.

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