School Play

Landon had the time of his life this past weekend. He got to perform in the school play, "Annie Jr." When he told me he wanted to try out a few months ago, I was surprised. #1, he hates singing in primary; believe me, I'm there every week! #2 He's in the 6th grade, and who would have thought it would be "cool" to be a boy and perform in the school play in the 6th grade? I figured he must have been talked into it by a friend or two. He was cast as a boy orphan (didn't you know there were boy orphans in 'Annie?') He was also in the NYC scene, as a newsie boy selling watches. Our kids' school goes from Kindergarten through 9th grade. So, Daddy Warbucks was a 9th grader,and there were kids as young as the 2nd grade in it, too. Annie was one of Landon's good friends from his class. He never once complained about rehearsals. The last two weeks, they rehearsed for 3 1/2 hours every afternoon. But he LOVED it! Many days, he would come home and say, "Mom, you are going to love this play," or "I can't wait till you see this part."


When the time finally came for the performances, he was so excited. I could hardly keep my tears from falling as I watched him. One reason is the memories it brought back for me. When I was a kid, I had the original Broadway cast recording on a record. I would spend hours listening to it, looking at the pictures, and dreaming of performing it on broadway. I loved the play so much that when I was a senior at Dixie High and our school was having tryouts for it, even though I had never done the drama thing, I couldn't pass up trying out. I remember having SOOO much fun doing that play, and wishing that I had gotten into drama earlier in my life. Anyway, as I watched my big guy up there, I knew how much joy he was experiencing and it made me feel like I would burst. My favorite part of being a mom is seeing one of my kids reap the rewards of hard work and going outside themselves in some way, without any prodding on my part. What a paycheck of the heart!


This is the "Tomorrow Reprise" at the end when the whole cast comes out to sing the famous song. We weren't allowed to use our flash on our camera, so it turned out a bit blurry.





Grandpa and Grandma Fillmore drove down from Logan and gave Grandma Hinton a ride, who's still in Logan with my Dad recovering from a hip fracture in the hospital. Also, Jen came with her kids and Michelle came with some of hers. It meant so much to us to have them take time out of their busy lives and come support Landon. Here we are with G. Fillmore when it was over.


Just look at this boy's face as he was being congratulated. It says it all. I just love him so much!