A person's a person, no matter how small

Today I had the privilege to sit back and enjoy the fruits of several months of hard work. I am the middle school drama club sponsor for the school where I work. We teamed up with the elementary chorus and the music teacher this year for our school's first ever "real" musical.  By "real" musical, I mean there are musical numbers with dancing, costumes, makeup, lights, sets, and it was about an hour and a half long, twice as long as last year's "musical" that I helped with (which was more of a concert with costumes and a plot).  We gave two performances this morning for the children at school and we will give two more on Friday off campus for parents and the public.

This experience has been one of the most stressful I have had to face in my job so far, but today it was all worth it.

Since January, we have been telling them how wonderful and talented they are.  We have been teaching and encouraging them until we felt like we couldn't anymore, sometimes with little result (much to our frustration).  Today, we had to say a prayer and then put all of the work we've done over the past few months into their hands.  I knew that the shows would be great, but I didn't know that the kids were capable of what they achieved today.  They were phenomenal!  They told their stories and created a world for the audience to step into.  They spoke to my heart very deeply.  They spoke of love, of sacrifice, of sticking to your guns, of believing in yourself, and of knowing that you are worth it regardless of how you look.

As I watched them, I realized just how blessed I am.  I don't always feel it, but I am blessed to know each one of them.  I am blessed to work where I work and with the people I work with.  I am grateful for the opportunity to teach each of these children.

There's more I want to say about all this, but the words escape me.  It's past my bedtime and today has been a long day,  Not to mention, we still have two more performances later this week!  But hey, I had to post before midnight so I could meet my quota.  =]

Lord, 

Thank You for all of the blessings You give me.  Thank You for the people You put into my life.  Help me to always see each person in my life as a blessing-especially when it is difficult to love them.  Bless all those who worked to make Seussical happen and please bless our dress rehearsal and performances later this week.  Help the kids to use their talents to give You glory.  Let them always know Your love.  

Amen

The wife started a blog. So, naturally, we are now in a competition to see whose blog is better.  Needless to say, I was quite disappointed that more people have looked at her blog, even though mine has been around longer.  Come on people!

In all seriousness, I am proud of her for starting a blog!  You can check it out at not shore anymore.  I think it's pretty fantastic, but I'm biased.  Back to me though (of course) - how can people like or even look at my blog if I never post anything?  There's currently at least one person in New Jersey feeling very smug because of my realization of this simple fact.  So, here I am.

So, what is this guy gonna write about in this post?

Good question.  What am I going to write about?

Well, it's been a year since the wife and I have been married!  Woohoo!!!  Technically, it's been 374 days, but who's counting?  That's crazy.  It's hard to believe twelve months have passed.  Until I'm home alone after work.  Except I'm not alone.  I'm with my three and a half month old baby boy!!  That definitely puts things into perspective.  I just love having him around.  Nowadays he smiles, giggles, coos, and he looks at me!  Notice how I said he looks at me, not that his eyes happen to be involuntarily pointing at me.  I can talk to my tiny human child - that I helped create - and he looks at me and smiles. I often find myself sopping up my melted heart off of the floor.  What a blessing to be a co-creator of a human person with a soul!  There ain't nothin' better.

Did he just go there?

Yep, I went there.  Whatever, sometimes I want to talk the way I want to talk.

Over the past several weeks, the wife and I have been reflecting on our first year of wedded bliss.  Not only did we get married (it's AWESOME), but we also bought a house and had a baby!!!  It has been a great year.  It has been full of blessings and graces and we have both learned a lot about what it means to be married.  One thing I know for sure is that I love being married.  More specifically, I love being married to my wife - she is pretty much the greatest.  Everyday, I get to wake up next to my best friend who puts my needs before hers while I try to put hers before mine.  It's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

In reflecting on the past year, I have also realized a lot of ways I can live a better life.  I certainly need to be more Christlike.  That's at least the top ten items on my list of improvements to make.  I also need to take more initiative and be more disciplined.  Obviously, the list is a lot longer than that (duh!), but for now, that's all I'm giving you.

So, in an attempt to become more disciplined, I am committing to post here once a week.  I'm not saying it's going to be Shakespeare (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) or even that I expect you (yeah, you!) to check each week.  And I certainly don't have any plans in the works as far as what those posts will be about.  However, I will be here each week, faithfully droning on about whatever crosses my brain that day.  So, if you happen to be bored and it's been about a week, check back to see what I'm up to.  Or don't.  It's up to you, really.

Lord, thank you for all of your abundant blessings in our first year of marriage.  Thank you for the gifts of our beautiful baby boy and of our marital love.  Please continue to bless us in our marriage and help us to be a light to others.  Help me to conform my life to Yours.  Give me the strength and perseverance to be more disciplined in everything I do.  Bless all those whose lives are affected by tragedy in this world and hold them close to Your Sacred Heart.

Amen.