Could It Be Magic

She lives. By that, of course, I mean I live. I have - more or less - recovered from the loathsome virus that threatened to exterminate me. And, like all obnoxious viruses, it has left me weak, exhausted and generally spent.

Luckily (?) I had a house full of guests during the glorious reign of the Virus That Shall Not Speak It's Name. Even more fortunately, these guests were mostly of the teenage species, who helped out immensely during my ordeal by asking for food and money, arm-wrestling me for the remote control, and remarking every 32 minutes that I probably had the swine flu (which of course sparked a number of exceedingly clever pig-related jokes.)

It's a good thing that I love my kids, and by default, their friends, most of the time. Otherwise, you might have been reading a guest blogger post explaining about my recent arrest for homicide and where you could send contributions to the bail and defense fund. You WOULD donate, wouldn't you? (Just say yes - since I'm not incarcerated, it's a moot point, anyway.)

I managed to make it to play rehearsal, but I know one of those days I wasn't very helpful. Mostly I was thinking the whole time, "why do these people have to be so DAMN LOUD?" Tonight things were much better. I can't believe we're almost to opening night. We have one more rehearsal this week, and then a tech rehearsal Monday for lighting and sound cues, dress rehearsal on Tuesday and then....Opening Night next Thursday. Hard to believe we're going to be ready, but I guess we'll make it happen. (sing with me: Overture, Curtain, Lights - this is it, the night of nights - no more rehearsing or nursing a part - we know every part by heart....)

The closer we get to the show, the more nervous I'm getting. I guess it's a good thing I'm behind the scenes and not on stage. I just want so much for this to go well, for everybody to do their best. I think the play is very funny, and I want the audience to have fun, to laugh, to GET it. There's nothing like the feeling when the audience is truly invested in a theatrical production. The energy seems to surge from the audience into the actors, inspiring them to a new level of performance. It's magical. That's all I want - a little magic. Is that so much to ask?