Guts

My daughter has more of them than I do. :)

Today Kaylee had her first ever audition for a play put on by a local kids' theater group. She's never been to one before, I've never been to one before, I gave her all the tips I could come up with, and away we went. There were over 60 kids there, and the auditorium was full of observers. Kaylee was a little nervous briefly, but nothing outrageous. Then they said that they were going to start off having the kids all just play out a character from the play...a character that the kids didn't even know yet. NOW is where I'd be out of there. Kaylee went with it, and did just fine. Then they had a reading, and Kaylee got a script and got to read a few lines with another girl. Again, she did well. Smooth, loud, good inflection, no stumbling, sweet voice like the character was supposed to be. I was more nervous than she was. Out of the sixty kids there, about twenty of them were asked to come back tomorrow for additional tryouts. Kaylee wasn't one of them. She walked out quietly, wouldn't look at me, wouldn't touch my hand, just walked out steadily, and when we got to the Jeep, I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes, but she wouldn't say a word. I know this feeling...the feeling that if you talk about it, or if someone offers you comfort, you'll fall apart, and you can't stand the thought of doing that in public. Within a little time, she was starting to crack jokes about her disappointment, and she got a lot of encouragement from some family members, friends, and even her 4th grade teacher who texted me in the middle of her audition to ask how she was doing. She did well, she really did. Nice and loud, friendly, bright, dramatic, etc. There were just a whole lot of kids there for just a few parts...but she had a blast doing the audition. I swear that was harder on me than it was on her. :) I'm proud of her for giving it a go, for getting up there as a total newbie and acting like a "Loony" on stage in front of a whole lot of people she didn't know, with hardly any qualms. Like I said, she's got more guts than I do. You did good, kid.