It was those little girls singing the National Anthem at the Texas Tech game that got me started.  I am a total sucker for really talented kids.  OK, who am I kidding – I’m a sucker for kids performing anything anywhere!  I was in this “altered state” when I read a Facebook entry gushing over our little community theatre production of Beauty & The Beast.  I should have known better.

As I decided that Sunday would be a day of “want to do”, rather than “need to do”, I decided to take in the final performance and roped my daughter into going with me.  Somehow going to a local production by yourself when you have no family members in it is just short of pathetic.  Its kind of like stopping in to the elementary school holiday program after your kids are grown.  Actually, going to one of those programs would probably have the same effect on me.  Again, I should have known.

The auditorium was packed – a sold out performance.  Evidently the buzz around town was effective.  It was also the place to be if you were under 5 years old, especially if you could dress up like a princess to boot.  We got 2 of the last seats in the back and I settled in with only a slightly jaded attitude.  After all, I’d been to many, many of these productions and knew that although they were always well done, they also were always slightly “charming”.  In other words, there was usually a key role played by someone who, if they didn’t live in town, probably would not have the part.  We support our own, regardless.

It was oh, maybe 2 minutes into the first act when the tears started.  The girl who played Belle was, I believe, a Disney plant.  She looked like Anne Hathaway and sang like, well, Belle!  The beast was big and growley, Lumiere was French and flirty, and Chip was the cutest thing you’d ever seen.  I just could not stop crying.  Thank goodness it was dark in there or my daughter would have been mortified to be seen with me.  Even I was getting a little embarrassed by my over the top reaction.

What was it, besides perhaps raging hormones, that triggered this tear fest?  Well, it could have been memories of watching the VHS tape of “Beauty” about 7 million times with my first born and picturing his very serious and intense look in trying to take it all in.  It could have been when they announced they were dedicating the show to Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumiere in the movie, and who’s son and grandchildren who live in our town accepted an award on his behalf.  It could have been watching kids I’ve known since they were tots up there doing an amazing job and hoping to be the next Tom Cruise (he too started in our town).

But what it always is, whether its watching a school play, a 4th of July parade or a video of kids singing at a basketball game, is seeing an authentic soul doing what they are meant to do.   A child who is singing their heart out because they love to sing gets me everytime.  Seeing anyone doing what they love without fear or concern about what others will think is to me like witnessing the purity of the human spirit.  They have stepped in the full light of their being and it touches me to my core.  I come away inspired and energized, ready to peel off one more protective layer and let my light shine perhaps a little brighter than I allowed it to before.

I’m grateful, especially at the start of this national week of gratitude, for the reminder that it is more than ok to be all that I can be.  And the reinforcement that our children are indeed our teachers.  And just for good measure, I’m off to watch Susan Boyle on the Today Show now.  Get the tissues ready!