How I Love Theater....

We have had such a busy month and a half. Brianna has been in the play The Three Musketeers at York Little Theater. It has been a great experience for her and this particular play has had rehearsals every night and Saturday for the past 6 weeks. She has had to learn stage combat, a bit of fencing and an Old English low-class dialect for her character.

I have had to learn a lot of new things as a mother ;-) I guess the biggest thing is the social part. Brianna has always been very social. I remember as a child she was happiest if I took her out somewhere - even to the store. So with this play she has met all kinds of new kids and adults - and has spent a lot of time on IM and email. Sometimes, it seems that she spends all day doing this. Then she'll be on the phone with a friend, reading the IM's from other friends, to the friend on the phone. And she has a million windows open and is flipping back between them, listening to Sirius radio on-line, updating her Facebook, etc. I am sure that many other Mothers experience this at this age - but I am just in awe at the pace of everything. Some of the kids she is IM-ing are in school using IM from their phones. I am amused as I am sure they are sitting in class - doing something other than what they are supposed to - as I was at that age.

I find myself worrying that she really is doing something worthwhile. I will say that she is working on her spelling and typing by using the IM...I am amazed at how well, what your peers think of your spelling matters way more than any spelling "test".

Many of the other kids use rather bad language. One of those "socialization" issues that you kind of miss by not being in school is the language. I guess that depends on what your household is like. We don't really use it - and I always tell my kids we have so many words in the English language that we can find one that is appropriate for any situation - that is clever and doesn't make you sound like an idiot. Ah - but then again, some people would suggest that peppering your phrases with the "F" word is the appropriate expression. Who knows... I just know that she has been exposed to many new and different things. I wonder sometimes how other parents are when their kid is in school. One of the things that I found shocking was how many parents will just let some strange woman (i.e. me) who they have never met or talked to, take their kid home at midnight. My daughter is always saying that this certain teenage boy has offered to bring her home - and I am thinking ....uh yeah - NO! It is a whole new world. Teenage boys who drive...

So, from my experience the whole socialization issue is ridiculous. I think people envision that we sit in our house at the kitchen table and never get out. Its crazy. I am almost feeling that we are always surrounded by people.

And on another note - I was impressed with Brianna giving a Bible Basics book to one of the other kids who she thought might enjoy reading it. I still sometimes stress at suggesting a certain book, or sharing my faith with people. She was so unabashed by it. She was sharing who she is. I am so jaded by experience. I feel a bit uncertain about what I think and feel- that I often don't just come out and say what I think. And yet, here my 13 year old daughter is confident in who she and and what she thinks - and it makes me happy to see it. She doens't have the hang ups caused by the "socialization" and bullying you can find in school. She has been able to develop in her own way, at her own pace.

So, I think what it really is that worries me is that I am afraid of all the ugliness out there. The meanness of other kids, the emotional rollercoaster that comes along with adolescence and the beginning of relationships with boys... I want to be able to talk honestly and openly - but not freak her out with too much information - or saying the wrong thing. I just want to be a good Mom.

Beyond that I do love theater. It just inspires my spirit somehow...