Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, the play's done Tomorrow, It's only a day awaaayyy!

Warning: the following blog is cavity-inducing sweet & Cheese Whiz-tastic.

I’ve been directing the school play, Annie, for approximately the last four and a half years. Okay, it’s only really been since November.

Why they chose someone who can’t sing, can’t dance, to direct the school musical, I’ll never know. It could have something to do with my complete inability to say ‘no.’ Or it could be that tattoo I have on my forehead (it says ‘pushover’ in invisible Sanskrit).

Knowing that tomorrow is the last time I’ll hear the song "Tomorrow" sung by 108 ten & eleven year olds (and accepting that it will be months before I get all the catchy choruses out of my head), I decided to dedicate this blog to the lessons learned from those scrappy orphans and big Daddy Warbuck’s.

Here’s where the saccharine overload begins.

Lessons I’ve learned from Annie

"I think I’m going to like it here!" – When faced with a new situation *gulp* keep a positive attitude and an open mind. And if the laundry hamper you’re hiding in tips over while Bundles the laundry man is pushing you off stage – just go with the flow & improvise. Plans don’t always work the way you expect them to.

"It’s a hard knock life" (sometimes) – There are bad days: days when words won’t come; days that queries get rejected; days when you get thrown up on during the in-school performance (true story) – but these don’t last.

"You’re never fully dressed without a smile" – Nothing makes a bad day worse than a bad mood. I’m not made of cheer & sparkles, but when I give in to crankiness, it never helps the situation. Plus, smiling’s contagious!

"I don’t need anyone but: " my feedback groups (both of them), my writers’ workshop, my first readers, my blogger friends, my twitter friends…. Okay, I need a lot of people. I’m no Thoreau going off to write in the wilderness. These are the people who lift me up on bad days and remind me that…

"The sun WILL come out tomorrow" – And even though it’s always a day away, as long as I can find something to look forward to and hope for, there’s always a reason to be optimistic and keep going. Who knows, tomorrow could be day Super Agent calls and asks to represent me.

I will now take my bow and close the curtain on this chapter of my life (and on all of these dreadful puns). My only remaining question is: what will I do with all my free afternoons?

No worries, I’m sure I’ll think of something. Or 80 things.

4 comments:

  1. i love annie:) i used to sing tomorrow all the time...
    -amy

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  2. Hi, Tiffany!I followed the breadcrumbs here from Twitter. And now I'm having a flashback to when I directed Alice in Wonderland for my son's fourth grade class (lo, these many years since...). I like the lessons you learned.

    Linda Grimes

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  3. oh my goodness, I know!!!:)
    the book was so psychological-nico trying to find a sense of identity after she's so attached to her sister. thanks for the comment!
    normally i hate books about death and greif but i couldn't put this one down-i guess because it was just written so beautifully.
    -amy

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  4. love the pearls of wisdom that you've gleamed from annie. so deep, so profound...so sugary sweet!

    ReplyDelete

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