My Little Toy Soldier

Analiese got to put all of her dramatic, imagination to use this weekend. Earlier this fall she began a drama class at our local community center. As a result she was cast as a toy soldier in our local community theater's performance of Babes in Toyland.

I've loved watching the excitement build as she went to class each week in the beautiful one hundred year old building. I have a slight love affair with this building. You can feel the ghosts of the past smiling at you as you walk the halls that they once walked. I love watching my girls giggle and dance with friends all the way down the halls with the creaking wood floors. I love the old theater, perfectly cozy for a small community with stage floor well worn from Nutcracker ballerinas and performers, old and young.

My sweet Analiese got to be one of the spirits that graced that stage. She came face to face, for the first time, with the nervous excitement that comes from being in bright lights. A few weeks ago she went in for a costume fitting and she could hardly contain herself on the way back home. The week before the first performance was full of long rehearsals. Then the day of the first show arrived, and so did the butterflies. The lights went down and the show began. We watched and waited until the toy soldier march and there she was. She ran in with the others and lost her shoe! I thought surely this was going to be a tragedy. But she grabbed her shoe and ran on with a smile. Then they all came out and sang their part. My eyes teared up. My love for my children swells when they are brave and beautiful.

It was a lovely performance overall. They all did so well. But I have a special place in my heart for one particular toy soldier who I happen to think performed magnificently. Even if she did lose her shoe. Instead of flowers, I gave her a nutcracker. A wooden soldier for my lovely, Clara girl. Much twirling and story telling has been going on, and I see much more in our future.