The Final Curtain Call

Several years ago, I auditioned for Listen to Your Mother, and had NO idea what I was doing. I wrote about my sister, and nothing about motherhood, or the tie in with it. Maybe I just needed to have someone to listen to my words at the moment, but I didn't make the cast. This year changed all of that, and I shared the stage with one man and 13 other women to give motherhood a microphone. It was epic. 

Balee ImagesWe spent most of the earlier part of this year doing rehearsals, and getting to know our castmates a bit better. The things that these ladies and one gentlemen spoke of had  me laughing, and tearing up, and nodding in agreement. I heard about child sicknesses and the thoughts of possibly losing your child, mom guilt, relationships with grandfathers/sons/moms/and children. I listened to stories about letting go of fear, and even told one about finding the pride of your maternal ancestors to move through tough situations. 

It was empowering being on that stage. Spotlight illuminating only me. Reading words that I wrote. To people. Other than my husband. I'm learning to value my words. If I don't, who will? 

I do love the fact that I picked such an opposite color to wear on the stage. Surrounded in black. Talking about the pride of being black. The pride of coming from a long line of black, hat wearing, women. I spoke of church, and slavery, and more church. Lots of things that I shy away from on the blog because I fear that too many people will search for the fault in the words, instead of the inspiration behind them. The reason that they needed to be written, and shared. 

I'll let Melisa explain the pony on the podium. It's a good story. 

I'm proud to have been in this last cast for Listen to Your Mother. I'm honored to have participated in something on stage. I'm pretty proud of ME. I'm also proud of all of these people who shared their stories about motherhood. Whether they ARE mothers, or they've been inspired by mothers. 

Several of the Listen to Your Mother alumni came to join us for photos before the show. It was nice to be on stage with folks that had been there from the very beginning. 

If you ever have a chance to share words that you've written, do it. Even if it's only once. Do it.