Oliver!

John in the middle with the Artful Dodger to his right and Oliver to his left.

In past posts I have made mention of John being in the play, Oliver. Well last Friday was opening night and it has been so fun to watch! There were 3 performances last weekend and there are 3 more this weekend (and 4 school performances during the week). Mark and I have been switching off going since it's quite expensive to take the family to each performance. We are taking the kids this weekend though. I was lucky enough to be able to go on opening night. John plays two parts, one of the workhouse kids and one of the pick-pockets in Fagin's Gang. He did such a good job! He knew all of the songs and knew all of the dance steps really well. I was so proud of him up there, he looked like he was having the time of his life. I couldn't help but get a little emotional looking at him up on the stage. It seems like not too long ago he was my little baby, and now he's (partially) grown up and trying new things. Mark said that one night after rehearsals the director said that John was the most polite one of the entire cast. As a mother that made me feel more happy than if he was the lead of the whole show. Overall if has been a good experience for him, just extremely time consuming. I feel it has been worth the sacrifices though. He's made some good friends that he'll miss not seeing when the show is over. I couldn't close this post about Oliver without thanking Mark for his support in picking up John at all hours of the night and even sleeping in the van with him one night when he had to be back for practice at 4:45 a.m. I was lucky enough to take the driving shifts that were at more reasonable hours. John couldn't have done it without Dad! Thank you also to all of our family who have tickets to come and see a performance this weekend. We appreciate your love and support and we hope you'll enjoy the show! How couldn't you enjoy watching over 100 kids who have each worked so hard!?