LOVE...changes your heaven

I only write here and there these days....I wish I were better at  keeping up a blog but I'm just not. Oh well!

I just feel compelled to write about love. About the different things going on in my life that are constant reminders that love is all knowing, all changing, all encompassing, all around us. At least it is in my life. I have an amazing husband who loves me everyday despite how I may treat him or how clean our house is. I have a God who gives me love through all things though I don't deserve it. I have a family who continues to love me though we don't speak or see each other as often as we may life. I have an office, who truly values me as a team member. I have a dog who loves me when Jer's not around (haha). And I have a theatre family who despite my absence in the recent months, treat me as if I haven't been gone at all. I have all I could ever want really.

Without love...life wouldn't be worth it for me. That's what life is about for me. Love.

I try to love as unconditional as I can. Its a challenge some days, but I do try! We all should. There's nothing more precious than to see someones face when you've shown them love through kindness. For instance, Jer and I decided to go out on an arcade date last Friday. We wanted to go to Dave & Busters but we are just not willing to wait for hours...so hopefully the newness will wear off and eventually we'll make it there. In the meantime, we just went to HeyDay (secretly one of my favorite places I think). After watching the celebrity game and eating our pizza we started with our $20 of tokens and played pretty much every game in the place. At one point, we had played air hockey and I had started to walk away and this precious little boy came up and said "excuse me, you forgot these" and handed me my 4 tickets (I had lost obviously). I was so impressed!!! I promise there are not many kiddos there that would have given them to me instead of pocketing the tickets. I waved thanks to his dad, who has done a wonderful job raising a kid with manners and integrity.

So we decided that we would just win tickets to give to this little guy. Let me tell you...my husband is good at games. Particularly the shoot-em-up zombie ones. If I had let him, he would have played that all night I think. My favorites were Wheel of Fortune and pretty much anything that your tickets are based on timing. We ended up with 604 tickets! I may be wrong, but that felt like a heck of a lot. We tried to find the polite boy from before, however he was no where to be found. So we decided the smallest kid in the place would be the lucky one. It just so happened that the smallest kid was with the biggest (toughest looking) dad so I made Jer go up to them and give them our ticket receipt (I'm a wuss, I know). They were so polite and thankful. The little boy said "thank you" muffled through his mouth full of pizza and he got out of his chair and gave Jer a big hug. It was the most priceless moment. Well worth every cent of our date. Kindness pays off in a currency that can not be measured. And to me, showing kindness is love.

Jeremiah and I were able to go to the 2011 Season Poteet Awards show this weekend as well. These are always so special to me as this theatre has been a huge part of who I am today. It was incredibly exciting to watch all the surprised volunteers and kids receive their awards. It was even more exciting to watch Carousel win all but 2 categories (and one of those were one by our "Mr. Laurence" so that was an okay one). It just brought tears to my eyes to see the people be so thankful and speak about what an amazing place they have there. 90% or more of the people spoke about how Poteet is a family. I was weepy because its true! Its the most wonderful accepting family Ive known. It felt so good to be in their presence having not done anything since Carousel. They are home to me. They always will be. Ive spent countless hours there over the years and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

They're what made me fall in love with being a part of theatre. They're a support system that encouraged me to not be so hard on myself or shy .... which then led me to dating my husband! They're the reason I have MANY dear friends. They're the reason I felt confident enough to join choir which led to singing on the praise team. And Carousel itself was such a special moment for me for its own reasons. I was engaged, planning a wedding, moving into a new apartment...stage managing a cast of 54 directed by Cyndi. And if you've ever done a show with her, you know it means late late nights sometimes (though those are the greatest memories of my life). But most importantly, I lost my grandma during that show. They not only gave me permission and told me to go, when it was time to go say goodbyes. They handled everything seamlessly and surrounded me in love the whole time. I truly have never felt more tough, sincere love than I did when Cyndi and Shawna told me to get out of there and go do what I needed to do. If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have gotten to say goodbye. The love of that place, is unending. I don't care what stage of my life I'm in...I will be involved there to some capacity. I was blessed to be able to spend Sunday helping with auditions, which just made my month to be there all day with them. They are irreplaceable. They are family.

And then we have a precious little girl named Katie Mei. I worked with her during Carousel as well.  She was one of our little children who never missed. Always knew where to be, in what clothes with what prop. In fact, she got a tooth broken during the show and only missed 2 scenes! And on top of that, shes absolutely the sweetest thing you will ever know. Recently, she was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma . I cant imagine what that news did to her and her family. But I will tell you what, she's a fighter. She's tough. Her mom keeps everyone updated, and Katie Mei is smiling her way though it as best she can. They came in on Sunday while I was helping with some auditions (time of my life I might add) and she was just as lively and happy as could be. I'm telling you, her spirit is special. This will not defeat her by any means. It is just giving her an amazing story to tell. Shawna was a dear and had bracelets made for everyone to wear in support of her. So that when you look around that building and other places and see the purple band, Katie Mei knows she is loved and supported by everyone. I wear mine proudly, ready for the day she gets to hear the words "its gone".

All this novel to just say how grateful I am for the love that surrounds me and those in my life. It keeps me going.