School Play

The Prompt for today’s story comes from storyaday.org, by Julie Duffy. The challenge was to write something happy– with happiness at the core. I know I mention anxiety in this story, but it’s based on my real life, inspired by watching my son perform in his school play this evening, and how much joy performing brings him. And that makes me very happy. 🙂

“Can you sign my program?”

It’s my eight-year-old cousin, Jill, looking up at me with star-struck eyes. I take the program and sign in. Then Grandpa hands me his. I laugh, but I sign it, too.

Performing always gives me a high, like nothing else I’ve ever done. It’s been a hard year, battling through my anxiety and worries about what’s going on in the world. But when I’m up on that stage, for a little while nothing else matters. And somehow– though it seems contradictory– my social anxiety all melts away when I have a role to play.

I’m grinning from ear to ear all the way home. Not even my little brother’s barking in the back seat can get on my nerves tonight. The velvet clouds reflect pink and purple light– the backdrop to a world stage. For this brief time, I transcend my trivial existence, and exult with the choir of the sky.

And the best part is, I get to do it all again tomorrow.