In 1999, I had the opportunity to play Annelle in the CASC production of *Steel Magnolias." The experience was enriched because I got to perform with my best girlfriends at work--Paula Reif, Dana Dinsmore Davis, Wanda Harris, Shara Olive, and Joyce Woodruff. Bill Day directed it.
Tonight, 14 years later, I found myself sitting in the audience, taking it all in as a spectator. Shara Olive was in the show again, this time playing Shelby's mother, M'Lynn. Bill Day directed the show.
It was bittersweet watching the show again. Part of me was transfixed on the production in front of my eyes. Part of me was transported to that same stage 14 years earlier. And part of me wished I could have been up there on stage with them.
I used to love being in stage productions. I miss it greatly sometimes.
Will you be as drawn to the stage as I have been in my lifetime? Will I get the opportunity to watch you one day on stage? I wonder at you, wonder if you will find joy and interest in this richly enhancing part of me and my life.
Tonight, though, as I watched the show, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed in the years since I had been in the show. For one, I have YOU now. And watching a show like *Steel Magnolias* is poignant enough when you have a loved one with diabetes (my sister, your Aunt Heather), but there's something even more touching about it now that I have a child--now that I have you.
M'Lynn's love for Shelby? Yeah. That's how it is. That's how I feel about you.
I hope one day maybe you and I can go see the show together, or maybe I will get the opportunity to watch YOU perform in the show. Or, who knows? Maybe God will allow us to play in the show together one day! I'd really love that, you know.
It would be a supreme joy for me to perform with you on stage one day.
But if something happens, and we can't do that, then know that I am with you in spirit. Always.
I love you fiercely, darling girl. Fiercely.
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