Tonight we took in a bit of high school theatre, watching Elise’s (and, hey, soon my!) younger brother in his first ever play.
I’m self-aware enough of a blogger not to regale you with a blow by blow of his performance, but it did recall a certain memory of the last time I witnessed any pre-collegiate theatre.
It was in the same auditorium, seen with the same company, possible seated in the same row as tonight, again watching another of my soon-to-be-siblings on stage – this time Elise’s sister.
The main difference was that we were on the other end of our relationship; we had been dating three weeks at the time, and the show was a prelude to my first time meeting Elise’s family.
After the show I milled to and fro, self-conscious and worried about first impressions, while Elise ducked backstage to say hello to former costars. She was still connected to her school – certainly more than she was connected to me.
Tonight she picked those old cast members’ younger sibling out of the playbill, more mine than anyone else’s.
I like this life.
(Also, let it be said that Elise’s brother rocks incredibly; he’s like a better, more talented version of teenaged me. He’s made me – who from an early age had vowed to strangle any potential siblings in the cradle – really re-think my position this whole only-child thing.)
Great post – I enjoy reading about your relationship with Elise. I think because it somewhat reminds me of my earlier relationship with my now husband. After we’d been dating just a few months (and I was still a little nervous around his parents), we attended his sister’s school performance of Little Women. It was a version adapted by the students, with no full-length rehearsal prior to the very full-length performance. I guess the students and the drama teacher didn’t realize that the entire play would finish at just over 4 hours! Utter hell, it was. (But my dear sis-in-law went on to do some fabulous work in community theater.)
I just reread this since you linked to it from a newer post. And I did the math… must’ve been Guys and Dolls, not one of EBHS’s finest hours. I think my favorite performance was just the semester before, when I got murdered in The Mousetrap. ::sigh::
Ha, indeed, I am referring to Guys and Dolls. Not one of my favorite musicals, even prior to taking into account the EBHS rendering of it ;)