a couple sharings and a half-birthday

(I had some internet trouble, so this post is a day late!)


Hello from the Megabus, somewhere in the middle of a whole lot of cornfields! I'm officially done with my third week at CTC and headed back to Chicago for a much needed week off with friends my own age.

Yesterday was Junie B. Jones' sharing day and final day of camp. It feels strange to be done with this camp and this group of kids. The other interns and I were surprised to discover how upset we were that it was over - it's been a difficult process for a number of reasons, but the kids were rarely one of them. In fact, I think our awareness of the difficulties made us hyper-aware of their needs, and brought us all closer together. It's amazing how much trust can develop in just two weeks, but I came out of this process feeling incredibly protective of and grateful for this group who, for the most part, gave this show their all every day, and took it upon themselves to build an ensemble. Though I occasionally worried that the rehearsal schedule and intensity was too much for this age group, these two weeks have just served as another reminder of how much young people can actually handle. 

Every week when there's a sharing, Debra reminds us to observe the kids and look for any changes in their behavior. I didn't notice much with The Lottery, I think in part because they were older and, as far as I could tell, everyone in the cast had at least one parent show up. But it was interesting to see how many of the Junie B. kids behaved differently when parents started to trickle into the TAT basement. One of my girls, who every other day was the image of a confident (even cocky) young woman, opened up to me for the first time five minutes before the second performance, when she realized her mother wasn't there yet. She started the conversation off by telling me that two of her friends came to surprise her, and when I invested in the first part of the conversation, she immediately turned to the subject of her mom. She was almost in tears asking me whether her mom would be able to get in the doors once they started the play (I assured her she would be). No amount of negativity in the rehearsal room these past two weeks ever made her visibly upset, but the second she realized her mom might not make it to her performance (even though she had already seen the first sharing), she completely lost her cool. Luckily her mom made it a few minutes into the opening number, and she gave a really focused, energetic performance. 

One of the other interns said something really beautiful to me the other day, that came to mind as we said goodbye to the kids. We were talking about the youngest age group (K-3rd grade), since she had worked with them her first week at camp. I asked her how she liked working with them, and she said they were her favorite, because (I'm paraphrasing) they taught her to be more accepting of adults that she met. They make so many mistakes every day, and when you're working with them, you just have to be willing to move past them and celebrate their successes. I think that's true of any age, and it's something that this group definitely reinforced for me. I can't pretend there weren't times when they almost drove me completely insane, but the golden moments made it worth the difficulty.

I was reminded by one of the Junie kids that, if my birthday was December 30, as they learned yesterday, today is my half-birthday! I like half-birthdays a lot (even though I almost always forget about mine) because to me, they're a day for celebrating yourself. Usually, no one else recognizes your half-birthday, but it's a significant enough milestone that it makes a great excuse for a morning yoga class and treating yourself to French toast and coffee at the Seward Cafe.

This was my second class in a row with the same teacher, and she's quickly becoming my favorite at this studio. Last class, there were only two students in the room, so she focused a lot on adjustments and helping us make the most out of each posture. Now she knows me and knows my habits, so in today's class of about twenty, she made sure to look out for my tendency to drop my head in low plank, etc. I feel like I'm really making progress on a lot of the more complicated poses, and I can definitely feel myself getting a lot stronger. We'll see what a week without yoga classes will do, though.

I probably won't post much, if at all, this week, but keep an eye out for pictures of cupcakes, because those are happening while I'm here.