Connecting the Dots, an Original Piece by Mary Kirwan

Mary and Gina Cerimele-Mechley, her mentor

Without a doubt, the most rewarding part of being a parent is watching your kids find their footing at something that they are truly passionate about.

On Thursday and Friday evening Mary presented her original piece to a full house of love and encouragement at The Essex. 

She wrote, directed and produced an original piece called Connecting the Dots.

Mary interviewed friends and teachers about their thoughts on connection and then took their words and worked it into an original piece in the style of documentary theatre. 

And because it's Mary's show, it really had to be a musical...she has come to realize that all documentary theatre is made even more passionate and inspiring through song and dance.

I must agree.

 

 The play focused on personal connections, those made and missed, and their importance on the lives and futures of those involved. 

The young actors expressed their thoughts on connections through friendship and love and a little bit of loneliness, through spoken word and song. 

And while I realize that as the playwrights mother, I am absolutely biased...

 I thought it was very well done.   

 Mary could not have done this show without the help and support from her group of talented friends and teachers and she wisely recognized their support.

Connecting the Dots involved a cast of seven actors, and a production crew of four....that makes 11 busy people who agreed to be there for Mary and then followed through, staying up late, memorizing lines and choreography. 

The thing that I am the most proud of my girl is that she understands that asking people to give you their time and energy is a really big deal and she is grateful for every minute of their help.

She gets it.

The care and keeping of those important relationships helped to define the play that she worked so hard to create...the very act of Connecting the Dots. 

Bravo, girlfriend. 

Two Wheels!

Do you remember what it was like to ride your bike without training wheels for the first time?

The fear...the unsteadiness...the death grip on the handlebars? 

Rosie was scared and serious as she peddled alone for the first time....

But there is nothing quite like the exhilaration of navigating the open driveway on your own, like a big kid.
Ahh...sweet independence.

After weeks of practice our girl is very happy to count herself as an easy rider of 2 wheels.
I don't think that she has ever been more proud of herself...as evidenced in her grin.
She totally owned that open road.

(photo journalism by Jamie G.)

"You Have Made Me Strong..." a message from Charlotte.

I was awestruck by this message of gratitude and love written by my friend Charlotte to her mother.

Charlotte is a beautiful young adult who speaks very eloquently about the frustration of growing up with a disability and the role that her mother played in helping her to become strong and brave. 

She is more than wise in recognizing that her mom is always able to reach her and help her navigate life in a complicated world.

So with permission to post from Charlotte,

(who I have known since she was nine years old)

Here is my favorite message from Mother's Day 2013...

Dear, mother
 i love you so much you are always there for me threw thick and thin and no mater how stubern i am you always know how to get the words i need to hear threw my head and two my brain and i love that you taght me cooking and how to clean and how when i was litle you toght me how to love nature expt spiders and how to love flowers and growing vetetables you are my one and only mother forever and ever and no other person will ever take your place i admit i am slower and difrent with having a disablty but you have not failed in being there for me you have made me stronge and you helpd me see my disablty as a gift i will always cary that in my hart mom for without you holding my had when you did i probbly would not be the women i am today it takes guts when you feel difrent and cofused in the world with a disablty that is frustating and hard to deal with at times thats when a mother makes all the difrence becuse you see my streanths and weekness and you always have the right words to tell me whenever i am down.
Happy mothers day mom i will always be there for you and i am proud to be your dater 
I love you

Charlotte and her mother Karen...two gorgeous ladies.

If you were as moved as I was after reading Charlotte's note please leave her a a word of encouragement...I will make sure that she receives it.

Like she mentioned, it absolutely takes guts to share a piece of yourself when you feel different and confused, and I am grateful that she allowed me to share her Mother's Day message. 

Thank you dear Charlotte... you are an amazing young woman and your mom is extremely proud of you!

Happy 18th, Mary!

My girl ten years ago...

 Mary at age 8.

(she's on the right, Ben the Bunny is on left)

And Mary today, still smiling after a long day of working hard on her final senior project

(please note the pencil stuck in the bun cool librarian style)

Happy Birthday, chica!
The world became a better place 18 years ago today...for certain.
I love you and I'm proud of you.
Shine On, May.

Don't Mess with Texas

I have a few Texans in my life who I adore, and one of them is Lyle Lovett. 

While he is not really a part of my life like we hang out on on Tuesday afternoons, I have been listening to him and enjoying his concerts for 20+ years and I think that counts for something. Also, he does happen to be friends with friends of ours (not such a huge degree of separation), and at his concert last night he gave a shout out AND dedicated my favorite song of his to Michael and Marilyn Wilson. 

Michael is Lyle's photographer and he mentioned that if you would like to have your picture taken, then you should call Michael.

Which is very true. 

Then he sang my favorite song about riding your pony, on a boat, on the ocean together for Marilyn and Michael, and it was really cool.

The lyrics to my favorite song "If I Had  Boat" are lovely and simple and I'm pretty sure that I know the words which is good, because in another one of his songs,  ("Give Back My Heart,") 

I THOUGHT I was hearing Lyle tell his cowgirl that he was not ready to commit and so she should go ahead and,

"take your BOOBS and walk out of my life," which sounded just right to me.

I was happily singing along to my own version of Lyle's lyric, when Karl pointed out, 

"ok...it's not boobs, its BOOTS, take your BOOTS and walk out of my life."

So apologies to Mr. Lovett for trashing up his heartfelt lyric of love and loss...boobs and boots are quite different features of a cowgirl and should be treated as such. And so I have learned, like so many others who were at the concert last night, that you just really shouldn't mess with Texas. 

Thank you dear Lyle, for leaving the Lone Star State and coming to Cincinnati for a short visit....we're mighty grateful that you did.

 

Big Pig Little Free Children's Library

The Big Pig Little Free Children's Library is now open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Our Big Pig Little Free Library book exchange has been doing it's own sweet business for over a year now, and we thought additionally, the kids in the community would enjoy having a bookish space designed especially for them. 

The new children's library is lower to the ground (no need for a boost) and a smidgey bit bigger...so there is room for all types of literary tastes.... from Dr. Suess to Captain Underpants and everything in between.

 Please stop by and visit ... and if your kiddos see a book of interest, please take it. 

If you have any books that you would like to share, please leave them. 

We also have a little notebook for requests, feel free to leave a note if there is a particular book that you are looking for. Maybe a neighbor or friend will have just that book. 

 Happy Reading!

The Upside of a Sarcastic Mom.

Henry on the Ohio, perhaps contemplating the upside of things.

This morning two of my wombats were fighting tooth and nail over one half of one mini bagel...it was like Lord of the Flies only it was early, so it was more like Lord of the Cranky Morning Flies at breakfast. 

 So, I was deep into angry bagel battle when Lily, (the mild fly) asked for money...

Her need was valid. Dad only gave her enough lunch money for one day on Monday and she has been mooching money from her friends for the rest of the week. She needed to have money to pay back her pals, plus Friday lunch money.

And I was a total jerk about it and instead of saying ANYTHING else, or NOTHING at all,

I chose to say something sarcastic and snide about what difficult lunch time hardships she was forced to face this week and went back to my own troubles of bagel half warfare. 

Which was really rude and obnoxious of me .

But then again if I was a kinder, gentler, BETTER mom, then stuff like this would never happen.

Said Henry to Lily...

"on the upside, you are really lucky to have such nice friends to help you out at lunch." 

And then Karl, the kindly Dad, was good enough to notice this element of beauty in the middle of the kitchen morning chaos wise enough to comment on it. 

"Henry- you really do a great job of staying optimistic and seeing the good side... that can be a really tough thing to do and you do a good job with that....well done" 

Proving that it's not so terrible to be a sarcastic jerk of a mother sometimes because it gives the rest of your family a chance to rise to the occasion and be good to each other. 

(or maybe that's just me doing whatever I can to justify my own crabby parenting)