A tiny bit of background information first. Last night, I watched the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy which I had on the DVR. Without giving too much away, the theme of the episode was grief and how everyone deals with grief in totally different ways. This really resonated with me and not too far into the episode, I started thinking about my mom and how much I miss her and by the end I was halfway through a Kleenex box, and all because a television episode about grief brought mine back to me. On top of that, my BFF had to say goodbye to her oldest child for several months as he is being deployed to Iraq. So, with both of those things weighing on my mind, I guess I was a bit emotional today. (Quick sidenote: Please keep her son and the family in your prayers, will you?)

And today happened to be the day that we were taking LG downtown to see a stage production of Peter Pan put on by the Valley Youth Theater (therefore, all the actors are 18ish and under). It was really a stunning performance, especially when you take into account the fact that it was all kids! I think even the orchestra members were young people.

And two things happened that really struck me. First of all, when it got to the part where Peter Pan turns to the audience and asks us to clap if we believe in fairies to save Tinkerbell’s life? I was just about to cry. Really? What am I? Five years old? I totally blame that on all my emotion from last night. Or something. I clapped and LG clapped her little heart out and of course, Tinkerbell got better. ;)

But the really emotional thing for me? Was watching LG watching the show. Her eyes were huge and when Peter Pan and Wendy flew? She was just in awe. This was really her first time at this kind of a musical production and I could just see in her eyes what she doesn’t even know yet, and that is that today sealed her fate as a performer. I was sitting there watching her and I think she found her passion today. She just doesn’t know it yet. She loved being on stage at her dance recital and I think she will always love it. And that makes my heart so happy. There’s something amazing about seeing your child find the thing that they love. And I think I saw that today. It will be awhile before it comes to fruition, but I think that the stage is where she will want to be in some way, shape or form. :)

After the show, the kid actors came out to meet their audience. LG only wanted to talk to Peter Pan. And Peter Pan was a very sweet 16 year old girl who took time to talk to all her little fans and answer their questions. LG asked her where she got the fairy dust and when “Peter” told her that it came from Tinkerbell, my logical daughter said, “but Tinkerbell is just a light!” So, “Peter” then showed her the pouch where the fairy dust was kept and that made her happy.

After we left the theater, Mike offered to take us out to dinner. At first LG wanted McDonald’s, but when I suggested Macaroni Grill, she was very happy to go there instead. We got to the restaurant and LG started complaining about being tired. Then after I had read a friend’s Facebook status (on my fancy schmancy phone) about being sick, she started complaining about being sick. We didn’t really believe her because I thought she was just copying the Facebook friend and she didn’t feel warm or really look sick. But guess what? She puked on the table. Just a little and it was really just liquid (so not too gross), but mom and dad were proven wrong. In my defense, had she said she felt like she was going to throw up, this former teacher would have totally believed her. If you tell me you are going to puke, I don’t question you, I just get you somewhere to puke as quickly as I can. Anyway, our food hadn’t come yet, so I took her out of the restaurant and to the car where she sat holding a plastic bag I found (just in case) while Mike waited for our food to be ready so we could take it with us. She ate a little of her food when we got home, but then she laid down on the couch and promptly fell asleep by 6:30. Which probably means she’ll be up at 5. Oh well. The joy of parenthood, right?

So, yes this post has a point. And that is that there’s the “joy” of parenthood – the part that’s not really a “joy”, but that you do because you have to – dealing with puke and sick kids and waking up in the middle of the night and so forth.

And then there’s the joy of parenthood – the part where you see that certain light in their eyes and know that they have found that thing that they love – that thing that they will pursue and that will make them happier than any other thing they do. Even when they don’t know it yet. And that joy? Makes the other “joy” totally worth it.