And The Circle Goes ‘Round

The cliche is that life is a circle, and that all things come around.

Over the past few days, that has certainly been true. For example, what do these things have in common?

The wedding of a dear, long-time friend.
My daughter going to the first rehearsal of the school’s production of Annie.
My launching of my new business website.

Follow me around the circle….

My friend Cheri married Scott, the man of her dreams this weekend. They are wonderful loving people and are the perfect match for each other. Cheri saw that I was trying to get my photography business launched, and I needed some different styles to fill out the portfolio. She and Scott very graciously allowed me to shoot their wedding, and I’m hoping the images I got make them happy for a long time to come.

Now, I mentioned that Cheri and I have been friends for a long time. Junior High in fact. We were in choir together as well as performing in theater productions. I had been performing in one form or another since about first grade, and she and I became friends during junior high. And one production in particular. Although I had performed in choir, even played guitar in a talent show, I had never been in a musical. The first musical I ever performed in? With Cheri?

Annie.

And now, I sit at the local mall (they have WiFi) while my daughter is at her first rehearsal for her first musical. Also Annie.

I don’t know if she’ll like it, but I suspect she will. I suspect that this will be the beginning of a lot of hours in theaters, building sets for me, her learning music and dance – and hopefully making friends. Theater folk are a different breed, and although these kids are only 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, they will mostly be nascent theater folk.

When I was a kid, the theater was where I felt I belonged, like no other. It was my home, my cathedral, my sanctuary. I could spend hours there, even if it was just sitting in the dark seats thinking about what I wanted to be, dreaming of what my life would be. The music, the movement – they were my safety blanket.

So, how does the circle complete? I met my ex-wife in – you guessed it – a theater production. My daughter was born of two theater folk. I will NEVER push her to do a show or perform. It’s her choice. But there’s a real chance that she will find the same attachment to it that I did. If it wasn’t for theater, I wouldn’t have the beautiful, intelligent, and sometimes frustrating daughter that I have now.

So, the circle goes round, and we start again. And you thought I was going to break into a song from The Lion King…