Sweet Inspiration

This past week, I watched Z walk into a Border’s Café to meet with a College Admissions Rep. I watched her walk in prepared and confident as I drove away to the nearest Target store.  You see, she did not need mommy to hold her hand for this meeting.  A realization that, perhaps, will hit me some day but has not sunk in quite yet. It must have been stolen moments ago that I walked her into Montessori preschool for the first time.  Clearly, the decision to spend far more than we could afford then for a Montessori school had paid off.  As I listened to Z, later in the day on the drive home, tell about the meeting with the Admissions Rep, I realized that she had suddenly become a young woman.  Yet, Curious George still sits perched on the edge of her bed each night.  Some reassurance to me and sometimes, I think, he is there for my benefit more than a symbolic security blanket for Z.  A few days after the meeting at Border’s Café, Z heard from another college that she was accepted to their school.  This time – it was Sweet Briar in Virginia.  The Sweet Briar Admissions Rep personally called to say that Z was a stand out applicant.  It is a good thing that these college applications do not show the other side that only parents see come out of their child or the world would be a very different place on any given Saturday morning when there’s all sorts of commotion in the house and dear daughter is capable of sleeping through it all and is completely unphased by the sense of urgency to get things done in what is supposed to be my weekend down time.  It helps to note that this trend of having others love and accept your child is not limited to the boundaries of an electronic set of forms submitted via the CommonApp and does transcend into the real world in practical application.  Such is the case for Z as she received an incredible letter of recommendation from the Executive Producer of a reputable theater group where Z has been a Stage Manager and another glowing letter from the Director of an independent film where Z had the lead role.  Along with letters from the head of the English Department at her school, her favorite art teacher and the Guidance Counselor.  All these letters while vastly different in their expression of sentiment – all conveyed the same thing and that is that Z was responsible, reliable, dynamic, capable, and sweet to everyone.  It was this last bit that was noted by everyone and that was her kind personality.  It is something that comes from her life experiences of being a part of our family where we each make a genuine attempt to emphasize the importance of nice no matter what the circumstances.  It had paid off to pass this on to her.  Believe me – there are days when it is impossible to pull that nice, feel good feeling out of any of us but, for the most part, it is part of our makeup and, at the end of each day, gives that sense of purpose to not give up on being nice and sweet and kind and may be the reason that Curious George is perched on the bed after all. 

Being Talia Shire

Monday begins.  Taking part in that doppelgänger thing on Facebook and I am Talia Shire.  Yo Adrian!  Along with H and J, I watched the original Rocky movie on Saturday night. Snacked on dark chocolate covered gummy bears, courtesy of Z’s squeeze, along the way.  Sipped on Riesling.  Had espresso.  Which reminds me - I need the strength, stamina and “no fuss” attitude of Adrian for the next few days. Alas - my Facebook profile picture for this week will be Talia Shire’s All-Italian-Girl smiling face. It will serve as a much-needed reminder of Rocky, The Godfather and the hilariously charming Jason Schwartzman. These are three things that I love about being Italian.

 Z’s performance in the Talent Show took place at the end of last week.  Beforehand, I was (for no reason whatsoever except for my overactive imagination) worried that maybe there would be the twinge of a hint that experiencing sitting in the audience while my daughter was on stage in this setting could easily turn into one of those Little Miss Sunshine moments so I was very grateful that H (Z’s daddy) was available during the middle of the day on Friday and would be going along with me.  After all – if it did turn into Little Miss Sunshine revisited – H would certainly get up and cheer a la Greg Kinnear!  Needless to say – the actual talent show and Z singing, alongside her pal Ross - Anyone Else But You from Juno was adorable and perfect. Flash forward to this upcoming week and I will leave my imagination out of it for now – there are play rehearsals, competition practices, trip plans, choir, intramurals, and homework.  Very Talia Shire – all week long!  Stay tuned - just like The Godfather, Rocky and Jason’s character in The Darjeeling Limited – it will be an adventure!